Myanmar nationals in Japan call for release of political prisoners

By Nyan Hein 28 Jan 2021

Nyan Hein | DMG
28 January 2021, Sittwe 

Myanmar citizens in Japan have called for the immediate release of political prisoners including the prominent Arakanese politician Dr. Aye Maung and detained student activists. 

The Arakan National Democratic Party (ANDP-Japan), Overseas Karen Organization (OKO-Japan) and Kachin National Organization (KNO-Japan) organised the protest in front of the United Nations office in Tokyo on Wednesday. 

“The government is not fair to imprison Arakanese political leader Dr. Aye Maung and writer Wai Hun Aung, and the imprisonment is the banning of freedom of expression, which is a fundamental human right,” said Ko Phone Myint, chairman of ANDP-Japan. 

On March 19, 2019, Dr. Aye Maung and Wai Hun Aung were sentenced to 20 years in prison for high treason under Article 122 of the Penal Code and another two years for sedition under Article 505, with the sentences to be served concurrently. 

The pair were arrested in January 2018 for remarks they had made earlier that month at an event in Rathedaung Township commemorating the 233rd anniversary of the fall of the Arakan Kingdom to the Burmese in 1785.

 In January 2020, Dr. Aye Maung and Wai Hun Aung lost a special appeal before the Union Supreme Court. They have been behind bars in Yangon for more than 18 months. 

Ko Phone Myint said the government should release the two men as soon as possible if it has a genuine desire for equality, national reconciliation and peace. 

But their fate depends on developments in the peace process, Dr. Myo Nyunt, a spokesman of the ruling National League for Democracy, has told DMG. 

The protestors in Tokyo also called on the government to scrap its designation of the Arakan Army (AA) as a terrorist organisation, and to resume 4G mobile internet services in Arakan State and Chin State’s Paletwa Township as soon as possible. 

“If national reconciliation and peace is to be built with the ethnicities, the terrorist status must be revoked first so that all the ethnicities will be able to join the peace talks. If the government does not remove the AA’s terrorist label, it will pose obstacles to the peace process,” said Ko Phone Myint. 

Fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army has been negligible in Arakan State since the country’s November 8 general election, with the two sides holding talks to reach a formal bilateral ceasefire.  

The Arakan State legislature passed a proposal earlier this month urging the Union government to rescind the AA’s terrorist designation.