Myanmar authorities have charged 14 supporters of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for protesting against the extension of her house arrest, police said yesterday.
They were arrested on Suu Kyi’s 63rd birthday on June 19 as they shouted for her release outside the party headquarters of her National League for Democracy (NLD).
“They were charged at the township court on Friday afternoon for causing public unrest that day by shouting slogans,” a police source said.
The NLD said it was working for their release.
“I was told 14 people appeared at Bahan township court yesterday afternoon. We are hoping for the best for them,” party spokesman Nyan Win said.
Last Monday the NLD accused the government of illegal detention.
“The arrest was not in accordance with the law,” the statement said.
On Friday, four NLD members were each sentenced to a year in jail for urging people to vote “No” in a nationwide constitutional referendum, which was held and passed by the ruling junta in May.
The court imposed the jail sentences “for trespassing with intent to commit offense,” Nyan Win said.
The NLD strongly opposed the draft constitution, which it and other critics charged would perpetuate military rule beyond a general election supposed to be held in 2010.
The four were arrested in Tounggok in Rakhine state in Myanmar’s west in March for distributing leaflets urging voters to reject the draft charter, Nyan Win said.
The new constitution was adopted after it won overwhelming approval in a national referendum held in May. Critics said the referendum was conducted in an unfair manner, with opportunities to oppose it restricted and irregularities in voting.
Nyan Win said the four were sentenced on June 27 by a court in Tounggok township, and they were the first people imprisoned for opposing the Constitution.
The Tounggok area is noted for opposition to Myanmar’s ruling generals.
The NLD said another senior party member had also been arrested on Wednesday in Shwe Pyitha township in northern Yangon without reason.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962.
WAKE-UP CALL: Firms in the private sector were not taking basic precautions, despite the cyberthreats from China and Russia, a US cybersecurity official said A ninth US telecom firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and telephone conversations of an unknown number of Americans, a top White House official said on Friday. Officials from the administration of US President Joe Biden this month said that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon. US Deputy National Security Adviser for Cyber and Emerging Technologies Anne Neuberger on Friday told reporters that a ninth victim
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that 150 Russian troops were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers
A shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea coast killed a tourist and injured another, authorities said on Sunday, with an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source identifying both as Italian nationals. “Two foreigners were attacked by a shark in the northern Marsa Alam area, which led to the injury of one and the death of the other,” the Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement. A source at the Italian foreign ministry said that the man killed was a 48-year-old resident of Rome. The injured man was 69 years old. They were both taken to hospital in Port Ghalib, about 50km north
MISSING: Prosecutors urged the company to move workers out of poor living conditions to hotels, but residents said many workers had already left the town Brazil has stopped issuing temporary work visas for BYD, the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday, in the wake of accusations that some workers at a site owned by the Chinese electric vehicle producer had been victims of human trafficking. The announcement came days after labor authorities said they found 163 Chinese workers who had been brought to Brazil irregularly in “slavery-like” conditions at the BYD factory construction site in the northeastern state of Bahia. The workers were employed by contractor Jinjiang Group, which has denied any wrongdoing. Later, the authorities also said the workers were victims of human trafficking,
RSS