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Saturday, August 16, 2008

University student killed by police in upper Burma

Mizzima News
Saturday, 16 August 2008 19:32

New Delhi — Authorities have heightened security in Monywa University in Sagaing Division of upper Burma, after a university student was killed in a fight on Thursday night.

Eyewitnesses said, at least seven police vans are seen parked in the University campus in Monywa City, after a student named Aung Kyaw Soe Win was killed during a fight near the university campus on Thursday night.

In an interview with a person, who claimed to have witness the fight on Thursday, said Aung Kyaw Soe Win, a second year Bachelor of Arts student in Monywa University, was killed while four of his friends were arrested after they were attacked by local policemen following an argument near the university campus on Thursday evening.

The five students were returning to the University after singing in front of a girl's hostel when they were stopped by about 10 policemen, who asked them to come with them to the police station, the eyewitness said.

"The police told the students that since they had been singing political songs, they must come to the police station. The police threatened them that they will be beaten up if they do not go to the police

station," the eyewitness told Mizzima.

"But the students refused to go and said 'we will not follow you, do what you want with us.' Then the policemen charged at the students," said the eyewitness, who requested not to be named for fear of reprisal.

Reportedly, Aung Kyaw Soe Win (19), and his friend Tun Min were beaten up severely and were pushed into a police van, where Aung Kyaw Soe Win died even before he could be admitted to hospital.

Though the other three students fled, they were later arrested by the police and are currently in custody with Tun Min at the police station, he added.

But on the contrary, a Buddhist monk, who resides near the university campus and claimed to have heard of the incident said, the fight was not between the students and policemen but was between student rivals.

The No (2) Monywa Police station, when contacted by Mizzima, said they have a case of brawl between students filed in the office but decline to further elaborate on the case.

A classmate of Aung Kyaw Soe Win in Monywa University, when contacted by Mizzima, said while he was not aware of Aung Kyaw Soe Win's death, "he has not come for class and I called out absent on his behalf."

He said police have filled up the university campus and have tightened security, though he is not aware of the police's apprehensions.

Aung Kyaw Soe Win's friend, who claimed to have seen his death body, however, said, "He was badly injured on his head and his skull was smashed. Their families covered his face with a handkerchief."

Aung Kyaw Soe Win and his friends on Thursday had sung political songs in front of a girl's hostel, his friend told Mizzima in an email interview.

Though he was not in the group with Aung Kyaw Soe Win, he said, he heard them sing the Burmese 'National Anthem' and other political songs that are dedicated to Burma's Independence Hero - General Aung San.

In Burma, youngsters love to sing on the roadside at night, and University campuses are frequently filled with groups of young students roaming, with guitars and other light musical equipments, and singing at door-step of girl's hostels.

In a country, with little space for legal entertainment for young people, the practice of singing in front of girl's hostels or on roadsides has not been considered illegal or criminal.

Meanwhile, Aung Kyaw Soe Win's friend said, the police have reportedly told his elder brother that he was under the influence of alcohol and died in a fight between students and warned him not to spread about the case.

Augn Kyaw Soe Win's friend said his body will be buried on Sunday.

Aung Kyaw Soe Win, who had come from 'Minn Tine Pinn' village in west of Monywa city, and was staying in Nandawun ward of Chan Mya Tharsi Township in Monywa, was pursuing his degree course in Law, according to his friend.

Reporting by Mizzima correspondent; writing by Mungpi.

Zarganar is accused of seven charges

Zarganar has been arrested over two months ago
One of the most famous comedians in Burma, Zagana, has appeared at a secret court inside the notorious Insein prison on Thursday.
Total of seven charges, including causing public unrest, were filed against Zaganar, his lawyer told the BBC.


Even with the hardest charge among them, he could be imprisoned upto 15 years, lawyer U Aung Thein, told the BBC.
This was the second trail for him since he had been taken away from home by the authorities on 4 June.
Also in the news:
- More arrest of NLD youth
- The first trial of the detained five NLD members in Taunggup Township, Arakan State.
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OPINION

Benchmarking Burma

By BENEDICT ROGERS
FROM TODAY'S WALL STREET JOURNAL ASIA
August 15, 2008

The United Nations special envoy on Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, is expected to
arrive in Rangoon in the next few days for another round of talks with the
country's military regime. If his visit is to have any meaning, he must move
beyond the U.N.'s traditional diplomatic niceties and make concrete demands
for change.

Since 1990, U.N. envoys have made 37 visits to Burma. The Human Rights
Council and General Assembly between them have passed more than 30
resolutions, and the Security Council has made two Presidential Statements.
All of this has had little effect. Vague requests to the junta to engage in
dialogue with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, made without any deadline,
have led nowhere. She remains under house arrest, just as she has been for
12 years.

So rather than more of the same, the U.N. must present the regime with
specific benchmarks for progress, accompanied by deadlines. The first
benchmark should be the release of political prisoners, who currently number
over 2,000. Many are in extremely poor health due to bad prison conditions,
mistreatment, torture and the denial of medical care. Mr. Gambari should
insist that the junta release political prisoners before U.N.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's visit to Burma in December. And Mr. Ban
should be willing to cancel his trip if the junta doesn't comply.

Another important benchmark would be immediately ending the military
offensive against civilians in eastern Burma, which has destroyed 3,200
villages and displaced more than a million people since 1996. The junta has
destroyed twice as many ethnic villages as has the Sudanese regime in
Darfur. Burma has the highest number of forcibly conscripted child soldiers
in the world.

Setting such benchmarks with realistic deadlines would enable Mr. Gambari to
evaluate the progress he is or isn't making. If the junta complies, so much
the better. But if it misses the benchmarks, that would clearly signal the
need for international action.

The international community could impose several powerful sanctions for
failure to meet these benchmarks. One would be revoking the junta's
credentials to represent Burma in world bodies like the U.N. The junta is an
illegitimate government, having overwhelmingly lost elections in 1990 and
proven itself negligent in its handling of Cyclone Nargis. According to the
U.N., more than a million cyclone victims have still not received help. The
U.N. also says the regime has been stealing millions of dollars of aid money
through its below-market fixed exchange rates. The junta is unfit to govern,
and there is a legitimate alternative in the form of the leaders elected in
1990 now living as a government in exile.

Beyond that, a universal arms embargo should be imposed through the Security
Council -- and maximum pressure placed on China and Russia not to use their
veto. Major financial centers such as Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore, as
well as the European Union, should impose carefully targeted financial
sanctions against the ruling generals' personal assets. And the
international community should call the generals by name for what they are:
criminals. The prosecution of Sudan's leader Omar al-Bashir and the capture
of Radovan Karadzic have set a precedent. Burma's generals should be brought
to account in the International Criminal Court or through another
jurisdiction.

The U.N.'s credibility is on the line to an unusual degree in Burma, given
the obvious illegitimacy of the regime and the obvious harm it's doing to
its people. Mr. Gambari owes it both to the Burmese people and to the U.N.
to try a different, and hopefully more productive, approach on this trip.

Mr. Rogers is advocacy officer for South Asia at Christian Solidarity
Worldwide and the author of "A Land Without Evil: Stopping the Genocide of
Burma's Karen People" (Monarch Books, 2004).

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