Case History: Thiha Win Tin
On 12 March 2015 at approximately 11:00 pm, two human rights defenders, leaders of the All Burma Federation of Student Union (ABFSU), Ms Han Ni Oo and Mr Thiha Win Tin, were detained in an ongoing crackdown on student protesters. Ms Phyoe Phyoe Aung, also a member of ABFSU, was detained on 10 March 2015.
Thiha Win Tin is a member of the Central Committee of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU). The ABFSU is a student organisation that has been heavily involved in protests since November 2014 against the National Education Bill, enacted by Parliament on 30 September 2014. Student organisations and independent experts have been highly critical of the law, which they claim restricts academic freedom. The ABFSU was one of a number of organisations that presented a list of ten demands to the Parliament for an amended statute, which include the adoption of ethnic languages in school curricula and the right to form student and teacher unions.
On 12 March 2015 at approximately 11:00 pm, two human rights defenders, leaders of the All Burma Federation of Student Union (ABFSU), Ms Han Ni Oo and Mr Thiha Win Tin, were detained in an ongoing crackdown on student protesters. Ms Phyoe Phyoe Aung, also a member of ABFSU, was detained on 10 March 2015.
Han Ni Oo and Thiha Win Tin were arrested with at least three other people in the home of a reporter in Rangoon’s Ahlone Township. They have reportedly been transferred to Pegu Division police. No charges have yet been brought against the two human rights defenders, and they have not been allowed access to their legal representatives.
Two days before, Phyoe Phyoe Aung was arrested at a protest against the National Education Bill in Letpadan, along with approximately 126 other students. The human rights defender is also being held in Pegu Division, has not yet been charged and has not had access to her legal representative. The students had been attempting to march from Letpadan, Pegu Division, to Yangon when they were beaten and seriously injured by riot police and armed groups.
The students were attacked when they attempted to dismantle police blockades preventing them from continuing their march. The same day, students in Yangon held protests in reaction to the crackdown, which were also quashed by police and members of government-sponsored youth groups. Five days previously, students protesting the same law at the Sule Pagoda in Yangon were also severely beaten and arrested.
On 3 March 2015, students in Letpadan had attempted to resume their march and the Burmese authorities deployed over 300 police officers, leading the approximately 100 students in Letpadan to stage a sit-in. The march had been suspended temporarily since a draft amendment bill – the result of negotiations held between authorities and student organisations – was agreed on 11 February 2015. The agreed bill had been presented to Parliament on 16 February 2015, but the government presented a separate amendment bill at the same time that did not comply with the students' demands. Discussions on both bills took place in February 2015, but no resolution was reached, leading to the resumption of protests.
