The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By   Burma Campaign UK 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 Came...

Chit Thura Ko Ko, a Myanmar political prisoner who was released from Insein Prison after receiving amnesty from Myanmar's President Thein Sein, talks to journalists outside the entrance of the prison Tuesday, July 23, 2013, in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar started releasing nearly 70 political prisoners Tuesday, just days after the president promised during a European tour to free all who remain behind bars by the end of the year. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win) UN News Centre July 23, 2013 23 July 2013  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the release of 73 political prisoners in Myanmar yesterday, as well as the announcement by the country’s leader that the rest will be freed by the end of the year. Hundreds of political prisoners have been released, including some 650 in January 2012, since President Thein Sein initiated a series of reforms two years ago following the establishment of a new Government. He stated during a recent visit to Europe that all remaining prisoners ...

U Kyaw Hla Aung, 73, an activist/lawyer (photo /IRIN) Karen News July 22, 2013 A prominent human rights group has called into question President Thein Sein’s recent commitment to clear Burma’s jails of prisoners of conscience by the end of the year, with a human rights activist jailed in Rakhine State the same day the announcement was made. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma issued a statement calling for the President’s words are not enough and it needs “concrete action towards emptying Burma’s prisons of all political prisoners and ensuring no one is arrested for their political beliefs or activities.” 
 AAPP acknowledge President Thein Sein’s sentiments, and speech but said they did not go far enough. “But words are not enough – the hundreds of political prisoners still behind bars and the thousands who have been conditionally released need action.” On the same day President Thein Sein made his pledge to delegates at a conference...