January 09, 204
Kyaw Hla Aung is a human rights defender and a Rohingya
community leader from Rakhine State who promotes minority rights in the
country. On 15th July 2012, he was taken from his home in Sittwe. After his
arrest, he was charged with three different counts, and transferred to Sittwe
Prison.
When his trial began on 14 August 2013, four more counts
were added to his case. He has now been charged with seven different counts,
including under 505(b) of Statements Conducting to Public Mischief. The charges
are politically motivated and his trial continues at Sittwe Court. He is
suffering from high blood pressure and arthritis.
As part of the No Political Prisoner Left Behind campaign,
Burma Campaign UK is highlighting a case of a political prisoner every month to
draw attention to the hundreds of political prisoners who could still be in
jail. The political prisoner for this month is Kyaw Hla Aung.
Thein Sein lied to David Cameron and broke his promise to
free all political prisoners in Burma by the end of 2013. Despite his promise,
he keeps many political prisoners in jail. Kyaw Hla Aung’s case is an example
of how British government policy on Burma is not working. Burma Campaign
UK today strongly urged David Cameron to put pressure on the military-backed
government to secure the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining
political prisoners in Burma.
A permanent and genuinely independent review mechanism with
the involvement of international experts should be in place to investigate
cases where people were jailed unjustly, and secure their immediate,
unconditional release.
“Thein Sein proved that he can’t be trusted when he broke
the promise to release all political prisoners by the end of 2013, and still
keeps many activists in jail,” said Wai Hnin, Campaigns Officer at Burma
Campaign UK. “It is time for David Cameron to step up public and private
pressure to make sure that no political prisoner remains behind bars, rather
than falling for Thein Sein’s empty promises.”
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