Myanmar: miners killed as journalists are jailed

OVER 50 JADE MINERS, working in Kachin state, were reported killed today as mud engulfed their living quarters. The mud slide had been triggered by a major landslide.

Jade mining is a largely unregulated industry: its activities often trigger landslides, leading to dozens of deaths every year. Some accidents are thought to occur when members of impoverished ethnic minority communities go to comb sites recently vacated by the major state mining companies – in the hope of finding smaller stones left behind after mechanised mining operations.

•The news of the latest incident comes just hours after Myanmar’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal by two journalists who had reported on the Myanmar’s actions against the Rohingya people – in particular, a military operation which saw ten Muslim Rohingya men summarily executed.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, Myanmar nationals who worked for the press agency Reuters, had originally been sentenced to seven years in prison for breaking Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act. The pair had been in possession of official documents when they were arrested, but said that the documents had been given to them by the police – a fact which was confirmed by a police witness at their trial. They accused the authorities of setting them up. They lost a first appeal and have now exhausted the legal process.

The Myanmar authorities later admitted that the massacre had occurred – claiming that it was the only such massacre which had happened in the country. Seven soldiers were jailed for their part in the killings.

Amnesty International has condemned the rejection of the journalists’ appeal as “a tragic denial of justice”. Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southeast Asia, warned that the Myanmar authorities were desperate to clamp down on any reporting of military atrocities against the Rohingya. He warned that there had been a recent “in the number of people being arrested on politically motivated charges, most of them for criticism of the military”.

Bequelin warned that with a General Election due in Myanmar next year, other countries should be increasing the pressure on the Myanmar government to release prisoners of conscience and repeal oppressive laws.

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