The Supreme Court of Thailand on Wednesday found that a former deputy minister and two ex-officials had failed to comply with a number of laws when they set up a scheme to legalize two- and three-digit lotteries.
The politically motivated case has attracted a lot of media interest and online commentary. By contrast, the judgment this [...]
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Pinning hope on a hopeless constitution
September 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Last year, amid the death and debris in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, Burma got a new Constitution. Now people inside and outside the country are readying themselves for a general election of some sort, followed by the opening of a new Parliament, which is when the charter will take effect.
The ballot is expected in [...]
Tags: Burma · Myanmar · UN · UPI · constitution · dictatorship · human rights · military · other countries · politics
Sound and fury after Suu Kyi verdict
August 16, 2009 · 1 Comment
The verdict handed down against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her co-accused in Burma this week surprised no one. The trial was throughout political, not legal in character. The only real question has been what, if anything, anyone else will do about it.
A chorus of angry statements from across the world quickly followed the [...]
Tags: Burma · Jurist · Myanmar · UN · courts · dictatorship · human rights · politics
Six men, two years, Hinthada
July 24, 2009 · 2 Comments
Two years ago a court in Burma sentenced five farmers to four years’ jail for allegedly causing a public disturbance; a sixth man received eight years for two counts of the same offence. Tomorrow, on July 24, the five will have served half of their terms. In all likelihood, they will have to serve the [...]
Tags: Burma · Myanmar · UPI · courts · dictatorship · human rights · police · rule of law
Visit to UNDP ends in prison
April 3, 2009 · 1 Comment
Among the many people in Rangoon’s central jail who shouldn’t be there are a couple of journalists. These two did not write or say anything against the government. They didn’t do anything that constituted a threat to the army or its hold on power. Yet they were imprisoned on a charge of inciting others to [...]
Tags: Burma · Myanmar · UN · UPI · courts · dictatorship · human rights · military · police · rule of law
Breaking Burma’s official secrets
February 7, 2009 · 2 Comments
When some villagers in Natmauk, central Burma, made a complaint last year that the army had illegally occupied land they had been farming, they probably hoped for a more sympathetic response than what they received.
The army unit concerned – which had set up an arms depot and allowed the farmers to return to their fields [...]
Tags: Burma · Myanmar · UPI · army · courts · dictatorship · human rights · military
New Year posts
January 3, 2009 · Leave a Comment
While Rule of Lords is on break, here are some good posts and important news from around the Net over the last fortnight…
… on Thailand:
The red army at the gates of parliament (New Mandala)
2008 Blocklist Analysis: 1,303 new websites CENSORED! (FACT/Prachatai)
Those foreigners and their foreign publications (Bangkok Pundit)
PAD To Sell Golf Clubs, Plastic Handclappers To [...]
Unhappy Human Rights Day in Burma
December 13, 2008 · Leave a Comment
While governments and groups around the world made effusive statements and gave awards to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Dec. 10, the Asian Human Rights Commission struck a more somber note.
“The celebration,” the regional body said, “is a grim reminder that even after 60 years of the adoption [...]
Tags: Burma · Myanmar · UN · UPI · dictatorship · human rights · human rights groups
Life on the edge in eastern Burma
November 8, 2008 · 3 Comments
Over half-a-million people in eastern Burma are living in temporary dwellings, forced out of their villages as a result of fighting, insecurity and the whims of local army commanders. Around 100,000 are hiding in jungles, valleys and hills.
That is the latest assessment of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, which brings international and local donors together [...]
Tags: Burma · Myanmar · UPI · army · human rights · military · poverty · protest
Food aid cut as crops fail in Irrawaddy delta
October 17, 2008 · 2 Comments
A week ago the United Nations humanitarian news agency ran a telling interview with a survivor of Cyclone Nargis, the storm that devastated Burma in May.
The interviewee, a 62-year-old farmer whose daughter-in-law and granddaughter were killed in the cyclone, said that although after the disaster some monks gave her paddy seed with which to replant [...]
Tags: Burma · Myanmar · UN · UPI · dictatorship · economy · human rights · poverty
No evidence please, we’re Burmese police
August 9, 2008 · 2 Comments
Almost a year has passed since the day Burma’s military regime suddenly upped fuel prices without telling anyone, triggering off a series of small protests that led to some bigger ones, and finally, the really big ones that for a few days in September captured the world’s headlines.
No one is any the wiser about the [...]
Tags: Burma · Myanmar · UPI · courts · dictatorship · human rights · police · protest · rule of law · torture
