UNHR for action over Myanmar military crackdown

The UN Human Rights Council voiced alarm Wednesday at the ‘disproportionate use of force’ in Myanmar since last month’s coup and pushed for a UN rights office in the country.

The Council’s 47 members adopted a resolution reiterating the call for Myanmar’s military to restore civilian rule following its February 1 coup and immediately release deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

More than 260 people are confirmed dead in protests that have rocked the country since the coup, according to tolls compiled by NGOs, and thousands have been arrested.

International condemnation from Washington, Brussels and the UN has so far failed to halt the bloodshed.

Myanmar’s junta this week insisted it had no choice but to ‘crack down on the anarchy.’

The resolution, adopted without a vote, criticised ‘the disproportionate use of force, including the indiscriminate use of lethal force, by the Myanmar armed forces and police.’

Myanmar hit back at the text, proposed by the European Union, calling it ‘politicised, one-sided, (with a) lack of impartiality, independence and credibility’.

Myanmar’s deputy foreign minister Kyaw Myo Htut told the council by video link that elements of the resolution were ‘intrusive and factually incorrect’.

He took particular issue with a reference to possible action by the International Criminal Court, which he said could be seen as a ‘threat and a direct challenge to our sovereignty’.

The text largely echoed a resolution passed last month following a special council session on the crisis, once again condemning the coup and calling for the release of detainees.

Myanmar freed more than 600 coup detainees on Wednesday, including an Associated Press photographer arrested while covering rallies, following fresh outrage over brutal crackdowns on protesters.

In commercial hub Yangon, AP photographer Thein Zaw, 32 — who was arrested last month while covering a protest — was freed from Insein prison.

‘I’m now on my way back home to meet with my mum. I’m in good health,’ Thein Zaw said.

‘The police officer who sued me withdrew his charge — that’s why they released me unconditionally.’

He had been charged with ‘spreading false news’, along with five other journalists who were arrested the same day.

They are from Myanmar Now, Myanmar Photo Agency, 7Day News, Zee Kwet Online news and a freelancer.

It remains unclear if their charges have been dropped as well.

Thein Zaw’s release came hours after more than 600 people held for protesting against the coup were freed from the same jail.

‘We released 360 men and 268 women from Insein prison today,’ a senior prison official told AFP on condition of anonymity, before the AP photographer’s release.

Lawyer Khin Maung Myint, who was at Insein prison for the hearing of two other clients, said 16 busloads of people left the jail at 10 am local time (0400 GMT).

‘Some clients called me (after) informing me of their release,’ he said.

Local media showed images of the prisoners on the buses flashing the three-fingered salute — a sign of resistance for the anti-coup movement — as people waiting outside the prison waved at them and returned the gesture.

Activists called for a nationwide ‘Silent Strike’ on Wednesday, and streets were bare in the cities of Yangon and Naypyidaw.

In the southern city of Myeik, rows of dolls were set up along roads, holding up tiny signs reading ‘We need democracy’ and ‘We wish for Mother Suu to be healthy’.

There was chaos overnight in Mandalay with barricades burning, arrests, homes raided by security forces, beatings and machine guns ringing out over multiple neighbourhoods, local media reported.

Three people were killed on Tuesday including seven-year-old girl Khin Myo Chit, shot dead at her home in Mandalay, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a local monitoring group.

AFP has yet to independently verify the girl’s death.

Aid group Save the Children and AAPP both say that at least 20 people aged under 18 have been killed in the crackdown.

‘We are horrified that children continue to be among the targets of these fatal attacks on peaceful protesters,’ Save the Children said in a statement.

‘We once again call on security forces to end these deadly attacks against protesters immediately.’

Myanmar’s junta on Tuesday defended its seven-week crackdown, insisting it would not tolerate ‘anarchy’.

AAPP has verified 275 deaths since the coup, but warns the toll could be higher, and says more than 2,800 people have been detained.

Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun put the death toll lower at 164, and branded the victims ‘violent terrorist people’ at a Tuesday news conference in Naypyidaw.