Japan-based Kirin Holdings Company, Ltd. should publish its investigation report on the military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (MEHL) and swiftly cut ties with the company, Human Rights Watch said today.
Photo courtesy of Min Aung Hlaing s website
A murky business partnership between the armed forces of Myanmar and Vietnam, with Myanmar’s Mytel telecom company as a nexus, helps funds Myanmar military atrocities in Rakhine state and other conflict zones, an investigative report by human rights activists says.
Mytel, Myanmar’s newest mobile operator established in 2018, provides the military with vast off-budget revenue and a means to access international communications technology, according to the group, Justice for Myanmar.
The group’s 161-page report titled “Nodes of Corruption, Lines of Abuse” says Mytel, owned by Myanmar and Vietnam military holding companies, is a “central node in the military’s network of corruption” that funds operations around Myanmar that lead to human rights abuses.
Rights campaigner jailed for peaceful protest
A leading women’s activist has been jailed after leading a peaceful protest against copper mine project, sparking outrage from human rights groups, including Burma Campaign UK.
Naw Ohn Hla, a former political prisoner and leading member of the Democracy and Peace Women Network, was arrested on August 13th after staging an unauthorized protest against a government backed copper mine project in Letpadaung, Burma. For her peaceful protest, Naw Ohn Hla has been sentenced to two years in prison.
Naw Ohn Hla was charged under Article 18(b) of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law and section 505(b) of the penal code for committing or inducing others to commit an offense against the State or against the ‘public tranquility’. Her trial continues for a remaining charge.