BURMA: MORE CONVICTIONS; SOLDIERS CLASH WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 000899

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP AND IO; PACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/18/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM
SUBJECT: BURMA: MORE CONVICTIONS; SOLDIERS CLASH WITH
CIVILIANS IN RAKHINE STATE

REF: 07 RANGOON 835

Classified By: Pol Officer Sean O'Neill for Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)

SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) Political and human rights contacts have told us at
least 11 more activists, including Htin Kyaw, were sentenced
to between five and 33 years' imprisonment on November 17 and

18. We are seeking to confirm reports that a special court
at Insein prison sentenced monk activist U Gambira to 12
years' imprisonment on November 18. These convictions bring
the number of persons convicted since November 7 to at least

97. Our contacts in Rakhine State confirmed exile media
reports that at least 20 persons were injured after soldiers
and civilians clashed in the town of Min Bya on November 11
and 12. Witnesses reported the apolitical clashes began when
soldiers attending a festival insulted some local women.

MORE CONVICTIONS
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2. (C) Human Rights activist Maung Maung Lay and NLD
spokesman Nyan Win independently told us that the regime
sentenced at least 11 more activists to between five and 33
years' imprisonment on November 17 and 18. Among those
convicted, noted political activist and key figure in the
August 2007 fuel-price protests Htin Kyaw got 12 and a half
years, NLD member Thein Swe and HRDP member Myo Thant (aka
John Naw) got six and a half years, and 16-year-old activist
Ye Min Oo was sentenced to five years' imprisonment. Zomi
National Congress president Pu Chin Sian Thang informed us
that his son, Kyaw Soe, and nephew, Kat Hkat Kwal, received
33 years' and eight years' imprisonment respectively. We are
also seeking to confirm that monk activist U Gambira was
sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment by a closed court at
Insein prison. These convictions bring the number of persons
convicted since November 7 to at least 97.

SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS CLASH IN RAKHINE STATE
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3. (C) Contacts in Min Bya, Rakhine State confirmed exile
media reports that at least 20 persons were injured after
soldiers and civilians clashed on November 11 and 12.
Witnesses reported the clashes began the evening of November
11 when soldiers attending a full-moon festival insulted some
local women. Police responded to the incident and dispersed
the crowd. The next evening, soldiers based on the outskirts
of town returned and began beating civilians on the street.
Several local residents reportedly retaliated and a violent
clash ensued. According to our contacts, at least 14 people
were treated for minor injuries at local clinics while six
others were admitted to a hospital in Sittwe, approximately
20 miles west of Min Bya. Local state-controlled media has
not reported the incident.


4. (C) While last week's clashes in Rakhine State were not
political in nature, similar events have sparked larger-scale
political protests in the past. The March 1988 killing of a
student during a government raid on a Rangoon teashop is
often cited as a key rallying point for the massive 1988
protests that followed. A 1996 hit-and-run on a female
student by a government vehicle sparked significant protests
in Rangoon. More recently, the September 5, 2007 crackdown
by local officials on a small procession of monks in the town
of Pakokku helped precipitate the "Saffron Revolution"
(reftel). There is no telling if last week's incident in Min
Bya will lead to anything more, but it's a reminder that
seemingly isolated events can have broader repercussions here
given public resentment over decades of abuse by the regime.
VAJDA