Advocacy group Athan says Arakanese youth wrongfully convicted of online incitement

26 Dec 2020

Khin Tharaphy Oo | DMG
26 December 2020, Sittwe

The free expression advocacy group Athan has condemned the sentencing of an Arakanese youth to five years in prison for allegedly instigating attacks against Myanmar’s military, calling the punishment a violation of human rights.

A local court in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township on Wednesday sentenced Maung Tin Chan, a 19-year-old from Sittwe village in Kyaukphyu, to five years in prison under Section 33(b) of the 2004 Electronic Transactions Law.

The provision threatens imprisonment for “receiving or sending and distributing any information relating to secrets of the security of the State or prevalence of law and order or community peace and tranquility or national solidarity or national economy or national culture” using “electronic transactions technology.”

Captain Pyae Phyo Aung of the Danyawady naval base in Kyaukphyu filed a complaint against Maung Tin Chin last year, accusing him of using a Facebook account identifying as “an Arakanese from Japanese rule” to incite the Arakan Army (AA) to attack naval vessels at the Danyawady base.

Following a 17-month trial, the court convicted Maung Tin Chin, who was an 11th grader at the time of his arrest, according to defence lawyer U Oo Nyunt Maung, who is in charge of the Legal Clinic (Myanmar)’s Kyaukphyu office.

Athan research officer Ko Ye Wai Phyo Aung said the victim was wrongfully charged and punished.

“It is a human rights violation given as a Christmas gift by the military. Reconciliation will never be realised if even freedom of expression can’t be guaranteed,” he said.

Daw Aye Aye, the sister of Maung Tin Chan, said the sentence was too harsh for an 11th grader.   “Five years’ imprisonment is too much. We will appeal to the higher level courts against the ruling,” she said.

Maung Tin Chan was arrested by police in July 2019, and court hearings began the next month.

Since the National League for Democracy (NLD) government took office in 2016, there have been four cases prosecuted under the junta-era Electronic Transactions Law.