ABFSU

The Statement on the Lengthy Sentences of Democratic Activists Inside Burma

Date: December 10, 2008

1. The world and peoples throughout Burma have seen clearly that the SPDC, the military regime, had violently cracked down on the peaceful demonstrators in August and September of 2007 which came about in response to a rapid increase in fuel prices. People including activists, students and reporters, assisting victims of cyclone Nargis, were also arrested in 2008. SPDC has sentenced students, monks and other people arrested in connection with the protests to unreasonably lengthy prison terms at the end of 2008; sentences that are in fact longer than an average human life-span in Burma.

2. While the people of Burma and the international community are working intensively toward the establishment of a democratic society in Burma, the SPDC has unleashed a variety of tactics that continue to threaten the internationally recognized democratic norms and has embarked upon a campaign of oppression against democracy.

3. It is apparent that the SPDC has implemented their anti-democracy mission as follows:

(a) Absolute elimination of opposition voices by killing people involved in the street demonstrations.

(b) Sentencing of the remaining democratic political activists and aid volunteers of Cyclone Nargis with heavy punishments meted out by one-sided jurisdiction in the kangaroo law courts.

(c) Continuing oppression within the prisons with actions that include the transfer of democratic activists to very remote prisons and labor concentration camps lacking even the most fundamental health care.

4. These actions demonstrate their opposition to the democratic principles which demand the release all the political prisoners and establishment of political talks to build a modernized democratic state. The disregard for the international opinion by military dictatorship has clearly been revealed through the brutal manner of its actions.

5. Moreover, the heavy handed suppression of the pro-democracy activists, are meant serve as an example that threatens all public lives and to create a climate of fear for the upcoming 2010 election which they believe will establish the legitimacy of the military dictatorship.

6. Therefore, All Burma Federation of Student Unions (Foreign Affairs Committee) has strongly condemned the lengthy sentences and harsh repression upon the monks, students, people and the democratic forces who have been working against the atrocities of the government to prolong their military dictatorship and to oppose democracy.

7. The unfair offensive of the SPDC upon activists trying to promote national reconciliation in Burma will not solve the nation’s current problems and conflicts. In fact they contribute to them.

We of the, All Burma Federation of Student Unions (FAC), have declared that we will cooperate with the public at large and will quicken our activities in several fronts in our struggle against the actions of the government to prolong their military dictatorship and to oppose democracy.

Foreign Affairs Committee

All Burma Federation of Student Unions

For more information

Min Naing ( + 661 6802015)

Zin Maung ( + 666 9233547 )

Being a dragon - evolving from having been a snake,

However there is no dragon crest to raise high.

Having imprinted configurations

On ones’ palms,

Yet there is no sign of luck to be proud of.

Everybody enters the race in the river

through their own preparation,

However, when one meets the waterfull unexpectedly,

Some ‘free-riders’ downstream scream in shock,

And some struggling upstream against the tide finally become helpless.

Numbers are increasing year after year,

However, there is no actual age to show people.

It could be still be called a life

Because we are still living and struggling,

However, there is no actual meaning to express.

Min Ko Naing (wrote in Sittwe Prison)
- Smuggled out of jail by another political prisoner.

All Burma Federation of Student Unions(ABFSU)
Announcement 6/2008;
Arrest of Student Activists

Date: 18 August 2008

(1) Burmese Military regime’s intelligence officials and the authorities had forcibly entered and searched some houses in Rangoon, where members of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) were staying, at night of August 7, 2008.
(2) After the searches, three members of ABFSU, Aung Kyaw (Rangoon Western University), Htain Lin (University of Education, Rangoon) and Chit Tun Lwin (Maubin University), two members of the 88 Generation Students, Mar Mar Oo and Myo Thant, and three visitors were arrested by the authorities.
(3) It has been 11 days from the date of arrest. Family members are not informed yet by the authorities, where they are being detained, what they are being faced, and whether they are alive or not. Therefore, all family members, friends and relatives of the arrestees are very much concerned.
(4) All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) is greatly concerned about the missing students, who were brought by the authorities to an unknown location while they all are working for the benefit of the people, students and youths.
(5) Emergence of national reconciliation dialogue among all stake-holders is importantly required in Burma today to address all social, economic and political crises by peaceful means. We, ABFSU, strongly denounce the Burmese military regime for its continued human rights violations and arrest of democracy activists, instead of moving towards national reconciliation.
(6) We demand the Burmese military regime to stop its unlawful, unfair and illegal arrest of student activists, and to release the current arrestees, three members of the ABFSU, two members of the 88 Generation Students and three visitors immediately.
We also warn the military regime that it will be sole responsible for any physical and psychological impacts on these arrestees.

All Burma Federation of Student Unions
Contact: abfsu.07[a]gmail dot com and abfsu2007 [a] gmail dot com

IANS : UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari arrived in Myanmar Monday for a five-day visit that aims at pressuring the ruling military junta to speed up democratic reforms, address human rights and free political prisoners.

The visit is Gambari’s fourth since last year to Myanmar, also known as Burma, where he has been handed a mandate by the UN to deal with the country’s military regime in addressing international concerns about human rights violations, slow-paced political reforms and the ongoing detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of other political prisoners. Read the rest of this entry »