PRESS RELEASE
AHRC-PL-006-2006

BURMA: Supreme Court decision on human rights defender shows Burma's "injustice system", AHRC says

(Hong Kong, February 2, 2006) The failure of Burma's Supreme Court to accept an appeal against the sentence of human rights defender Ma Su Su Nwe speaks to the country's "injustice system" the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) said today.

On Wednesday afternoon Supreme Court Justice Tin Aung Aye summarily rejected an application by U Myint Thaung, Su Su Nwe's lawyer, to appeal against an 18-month jail term imposed on the 34-year-old villager last October in revenge for her unprecedented victory in a forced labour case.

"This summary dismissal shows how totally defunct the judicial system in Burma has become," Basil Fernando, executive director of the Hong Kong-based regional rights group, said.

"It is not a system of justice; it is a system of injustice," he said.

"The judge must surely have underestimated how much further this decision has degraded the Burmese judiciary in the eyes of the world," Fernando said.

"After this, we must question whether or not the Supreme Court has the capacity to pass judgment in any case coming before it," he added.

Su Su Nwe's lawyers have indicated that they will now lodge an application in the Supreme Court for a special review of the case, which is the final avenue for appeal.

In a letter to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour the AHRC again called for Burma to be suspended from the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, criticising the body for having "failed to act decisively" over Su Su Nwe's detention.

"The AHRC among many other agencies, together with the Special Rapporteur [on human rights in Burma] have repeatedly informed you of these conditions [yet Burma] is still permitted to sit as a member of the Commission," the AHRC said.

"We fail to understand why," the letter said.

It called on Arbour "to take personal responsibility to see that Myanmar is suspended from the Commission" and asked her not to remain "silent and inert" over the total repression of human rights in the country.
 
The AHRC on Monday launched a bilingual webpage on Ma Su Su Nwe, which can be accessed at: www.ahrchk.net/susunwe.

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About AHRC The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.