Myanmar jails former British ambassador and her husband for a year for ‘breaching immigration rules’
- Vicky Bowman and husband were jailed today after being arrested last month
- Neither Myanmar’s military government or Britain have confirmed the sentence
- But a diplomatic source said they had been sentenced to a year in prison
- Bowman, who served as envoy from 2002 to 2006, was arrested last month
- Local media said at the time the pair had been taken to Yangon’s notorious Insein prison where inmates are beaten and starved, disease is rife and rats run free
Myanmar’s junta jailed a former UK ambassador to the country and her husband for a year on Friday for breaching immigration rules, a diplomatic source said.
Vicky Bowman and her husband – the prominent Burmese artist Htein Lin – were jailed for a year each, a source with knowledge of the case told AFP news agency.
Neither Myanmar’s military government nor the British embassy have publicly confirmed the court’s action, but the diplomatic source said the Southeast Asian nation sentenced Bowman for failing to register her residence.
The diplomat insisted on not being identified because he was not authorised to release such information. Neither Myanmar’s military government nor the British embassy have publicly confirmed the court’s action.
Bowman, who served as envoy from 2002 to 2006, was arrested along with her husband on August 24 in the commercial hub Yangon.
The military government announced their arrest last week, saying Bowman was detained for failing to inform the authorities last year when she and her husband moved from their registered address in Yangon, the country’s biggest city, to Kalaw township in Shan state in east-central Myanmar.
Vicky Bowman, who served as envoy from 2002 to 2006, was jailed for a year on Friday – along with her husband – for breaching immigration rules
Vicky Bowman, and her husband the prominent Burmese artist Htein Lin (pictured), were jailed for a year each, a source with knowledge of the case told AFP news agency
Local media said at the time the pair had been taken to Yangon’s notorious Insein prison where inmates are beaten and starved, disease is rife and rats run free.
A source with knowledge of the arrest said the pair had been detained by the country’s military junta for allegedly violating immigration laws, charges which carry a maximum of five years in prison.
Their detention, likely a political retaliation, came as the UK government announced a new round of sanctions targeting Myanmar’s military-linked businesses
This was in support of the persecuted Rohingya community, and done in an effort to limit the military’s access to arms and revenue.
The news came as a junta court sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to three years in jail on Friday for electoral fraud over 2020 polls which her party won in a landslide. Suu Kyi was ‘sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour’.
Myanmar has been in political and economic chaos since the military overthrew an elected government in early 2021. The country has arrested more than 15,000 people since the military seized power.
‘Since the coup, we have seen activists, artists, journalists, students, business owners, and medical professionals arbitrarily detained and jailed by the military on the slightest pretext, said Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Campaign Director.
‘The latest reports on the conviction of the former UK ambassador and her Burmese artist husband are extremely concerning. Myanmar’s military has a notorious track record of arresting and jailing people on politically motivated or trumped-up charges.
‘More than 15,000 people have been arrested since the military seized power in a coup last year, and many are languishing in a vast network of detention and interrogation facilities where they have faced torture or other ill-treatment.’
The Insein jail in Yangon with about 10,000 detainees, is Myanmar’s largest jail
Its Immigration Act has provisions that can provide an excuse for holding foreign visitors for violating the terms of their visas.
‘We are concerned by the arrest of a British woman in Myanmar,’ a UK embassy spokesperson said in August after Bowman’s arrest. ‘We are in contact with the local authorities and are providing consular assistance.’
A junta spokesman did not respond to requests for comment at the time.
Bowman works as director at the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business and is a fluent Burmese speaker. Prior to serving as ambassador, she was the second secretary in the UK’s embassy from 1990 to 1993.
Htein Lin meanwhile was arrested in 1998 and imprisoned for allegedly opposing the rule of the then-junta.
After he was freed in 2004, he came to the attention of then-ambassador Bowman for a series of paintings he had made while imprisoned, using smuggled materials.
She persuaded him to let her take the paintings for his own security, and the pair married in 2006.
Ties between the UK and Myanmar have soured since the coup in 2021.
The junta earlier this year criticised Britain’s recent downgrading of its mission in the country as ‘unacceptable’.
Bowman works as director at the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business and is a fluent Burmese speaker
Staff members of Myanmar correctional department open barricades before the release of detainees at the main entrance of the Insein prison in Yangon, Myanmar, 19 October 2021
The UK government has sanctioned several military-linked companies and individuals following the army’s power grab last year, which triggered mass uprisings and a bloody crackdown on dissent.
The new round of sanctions last month were described as a show of support for the Muslim Rohingya minority, who have been harshly persecuted since the junta swept to power.
‘We continue to stand in solidarity with the Rohingya people and condemn the Myanmar Armed Forces’ horrific campaign of ethnic cleansing,’ British Minister for Asia Amanda Milling said in a statement at the time.
Scores of foreign nationals have been caught up in the junta’s crackdown following its power grab.
Japanese filmmaker Toru Kubota is currently being held in Insein prison, after he was detained last month near an anti-government rally in Yangon.
He is the fifth foreign journalist to be detained in Myanmar, after US citizens Nathan Maung and Danny Fenster, Robert Bociaga of Poland and Yuki Kitazumi of Japan – all of whom were later freed and deported.
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi, 77, is sentenced to three years’ jail and hard labour for ‘electoral fraud’
A Myanmar junta court sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to three years in jail on Friday for electoral fraud over 2020 polls which her party won in a landslide.
Suu Kyi was ‘sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour’, a source with knowledge of the case said, adding that the Nobel laureate, 77, appeared to be in good health.
Detained since a putsch last year, Suu Kyi has already been convicted of corruption and a clutch of other charges by a closed junta court and sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Journalists have been barred from proceedings in the military-built capital Naypyidaw and her lawyers have been prevented from speaking to the press.
A Myanmar junta court sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi (pictured) to three years in jail on Friday for electoral fraud over 2020 polls which her party won in a landslide
The military alleged widespread voter fraud during the November 2020 election, won resoundingly by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), although international observers said the poll was largely free and fair.
The military has since cancelled the result and said it uncovered more than 11 million instances of voter fraud.
Last month junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said the military was being ‘lenient’ on Suu Kyi and could have taken ‘more serious actions’ against her.
Myanmar was plunged into crisis following the military’s power grab last year, with swathes of the country ravaged by fighting and the economy in freefall.
More than 2,200 people have been killed and over 15,000 arrested in the military’s crackdown on dissent since it seized power, according to a local monitoring group.
Aung San Suu Kyi (left) and detained president Win Myint (right) pictured on May 24, 2021 during their first court appearance in Naypyidaw after the military detained them in a coup on February 1.
A protester holds up a poster calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi during a demonstration against the military coup at in front of the Central Bank of Myanmar in Yangon
The junta declared a state of emergency after ousting Suu Kyi’s government, and has previously said elections would be held and the state of emergency lifted by August 2023.
In a speech broadcast last month Min Aung Hlaing did not mention a date for fresh polls but said they could only be held when the country was ‘peaceful and stable’.
He also said ‘reform’ to the electoral system was needed, including combining the first-past-the-post system – under which Suu Kyi’s NLD has won sweeping majorities – with proportional representation.
Last month the junta-stacked Union Election Commission said the country’s 92 registered political parties would have to ask for permission if they wished to meet foreign organisations or individuals.
‘Political parties need to respect the law,’ the commission said.
‘If they fail to do so their party’s registration will be dissolved.’
Source: Read Full Article
