Case Summary and Outcome

Naw Ohn Hla was sentenced to four months in prison with hard labor on June 20, 2015 under the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law after being accused of causing a religious disturbance as she held prayers at Shwedagon Pagoda to support the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 2007. She was released from the Insein Prison in Yangon on April 17, 2016 due to Presidential amnesty.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression could not identify the official legal and government records on the case and that the information contained in this report was derived from secondary sources. It must be noted that media outlets may not provide complete information about this case. Additional information regarding this legal matter will be updated as an official source becomes available.

Facts

In 2007, Naw Ohn Hla went to Shwedagon Pagoda in Ragoon and led a prayer service for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest at that time by the former military regime.

She told the local newspaper that the pagoda security pulled the members out of the compound in the middle of the prayer. Charges were later filed against her. The governing body of the Shwedagon accused her of causing a religious disturbance, a crime under Article 296 of the Penal Code that carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison. She also faced additional charges in three other districts under the same law.

The case was filed by the Shwedagon Pagoda Board of Trustees member, U Mang Maung Tint. According to her lawyer, Robert San Aung, the judge brought up the case because authorities could not catch the woman. Naw Ohn Hla has actually been imprisoned for more than seven times since 1989 for her peaceful efforts in human rights and political activities. Her lawyer said that the authorities seem to pile up the cases against her in order to silent the activist.

Naw Ohn Hla had been imprisoned at the notorious Insein Prison for the peaceful protest at the Chinese Embassy in Rangoon which took place in December 2014 serving a four years and four month sentence before this ruling was delivered. She was held at the Insein Prison in Rangoon before being granted Presidential amnesty and released on April 17, 2016.

Decision Overview

While there is no official court document from which to generate a decision overview, the law under which these charges stem has been controversial over the past couple of years.

The Peaceful Assembly Law has been criticized by Human Rights Watch and other human rights groups. They have argued that Article 19 poses a threat to the rights to freedom of assembly because one must ask for permission from the Burmese authorities to have a protest even though it is peaceful. Those who violate the law will face a possible jail term of one year maximum or a maximum of thirty thousand kyat fine or both as described in the Article 18 of the law.