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Khun Htun Oo

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In thisBurmese name,Khunis anhonorific,not agiven name.In thisBurmese name,thegiven nameisHtun Oo.There is no family name.
Khun Htun Oo
Born(1943-09-11)11 September 1943
Hsipaw,Burma
Died30 April 2022(2022-04-30)(aged 78)
His residence at 9 mile,Yangon,Myanmar.
NationalityShan
CitizenshipMyanmar
EducationSt.Elbert, Maymyo
Kambawza College, Taunggyi
Alma materRangoon University
OccupationPolitician
Years active1988 – 2022
Known for
Parent(s)Sao Kyar Hzon (father)
Sao Shwe Yone (mother)

Khun Htun Oo(Burmese:ခွန်ထွန်းဦးpronounced[kʰʊ̀ɰ̃tʰʊ́ɰ̃ʔú],Shan:ၸဝ်ႈၶုၼ်ထုၼ်းဢူ,11 September 1943 – 30 April 2022)[1]was a chairman ofShan Nationalities League for Democracy(SNLD) and a politician who was imprisoned in 2005 for treason, defamation, and inciting dissatisfaction with the Burmese government. His sentence was protested by numerous Western governments and the human rights groupAmnesty International,which named him aprisoner of conscience.

Background[edit]

Khun Htun Oo was ethnically Shan (Tai), and was born in 1943 inHsipawNorthern Shan State. He was the nephew ofSao Kya Seng,the last Saopha of Hsipaw who was arrested in 1962 after GeneralNe Win's 1962 Burmese coup d'état and never seen again.[2]He pursued aBachelor of LawsatRangoon Universityin 1964 before serving as assistant to theIndonesianmilitary attaché in Burma.[2]Khun Htun Oo went on to become "the most senior political representative of the Shan".[2]

Afterpro-democracy, anti-government proteststoppledNe Win's military dictatorship in 2011,[3]Khun Tun Oo stood for the1990 parliamentary electionsat the head of theShan Nationalities League for Democracy(SNLD) party.[2]His party gained 23 seats (220,835 votes),[4]and within Shan State, finished ahead of evenAung San Suu Kyi'sNational League for Democracy(NLD), which had won 59.9% of the vote nationwide.[2]However, the military government annulled the results, the parliament never convened, and the generals continued to rule the country as theState Peace and Development Council(SPDC).[3]

Activism, arrest, and trial[edit]

Eight years after the annulment of the election results, SNLD and 3 other ethnic parties worked on a coalition agreement with theNLD.This coalition urged theSPDCto negotiate with the NLD over human rights, but these efforts did not succeed, and Khun Htun Oo's party ultimately urged politicians to boycott the SPDC's coming National Convention.[2]In a 2002 interview withBBC News,he described his party's ultimate objective as "the establishment of a multi-party democratic system".[5]That same year, he publicly protested the exclusion of Burma's ethnic minorities fromUnion Daycelebrations.[6]

Khun Htun Oo's opposition to the government eventually led to his arrest. On 7 February 2005—Shan National Day—Khun Htun Oo met several other politicians for a meal, over which they discussed the SPDC's plans for the coming national transition.[7]He was arrested two days later on charges of "high treason" and "inciting disaffection towards the Government".[7]The other leaders present at the meeting were arrested as well.[2]

In November of that year, the group was tried in a closed trial atInsein Prison.Khun Htun Oo was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to 93 years' imprisonment.[2][7]Amnesty International criticized the trial as falling "far short of international fair trial standards", noting that the defendants were denied access to family and their own lawyers.[7]

Imprisonment and international attention[edit]

Khun Htun Oo and the other Shan State leaders were sent to different prisons in remote area of Burma, hundreds of miles from their hometowns. From 2005 to 2011, Khun Htun Oo was held inPutaoprison in northernmostKachin Statewhere temperature falls below zero in winter.[2]According to reports released from the prison, despite havingdiabetesandgouthe received little medical attention, and was also suffering from swollen legs due to lack of exercise, as well asischemic heart disease.[2]Amnesty International reported that he also suffers from apeptic ulcerand arthritis.[7]On 9 February 2010, theDemocratic Voice of Burmareported that Khun Htun Oo was "losing hair and weight," dropping from around 160 lbs. to around 120 lbs.,[8]and on 10 February 2011, that his health was "deteriorating".[9]

Amnesty International named Khun Htun Oo as aprisoner of conscience,and as of May 2011, continued to publicize his case.[10]He was also made an honorary Italian citizen by the mayor ofMonzaon 10 December 2008.[2]A 2010 United Nations draft resolution calling by name for the freedom of Khun Htun Oo and other political prisoners was co-sponsored by Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Great Britain and the US.[11]In March 2011, Khun Htun Oo was awarded the Nationalities Hero prize by the United Nationalities Alliance, a group representing several minorities of Burma, for his "dedication and struggle for ethnic groups and national reconciliation".[12]

Release[edit]

Khun Htun Oo was released on 13 January 2012 in a mass presidential pardon of political prisoners.[13]

Death[edit]

According to theShan Nationalities League for Democracy's official Facebook page, Khun Htun Oo had died on 30 April 2022 in the afternoon around 1:00PM in the house where he resided, located in 9 Mile,Yangon.TheSNLDspokesperson, U Saing Latt, commented that it is a huge loss for theShan people.[14][15]

References[edit]

  1. ^မန္မာ့ႏိုင္ငံေရးထဲ ထင္ရွားသူ ရွမ္းေခါင္းေဆာင္ ခြန္ထြန္းဦး ကြယ္လြန္(in Burmese)
  2. ^abcdefghijk"AAPP Case No.: 0055"(PDF).Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. 11 February 2010. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2 March 2011.Retrieved10 May2011.
  3. ^ab"Burma's 2007 protests".BBC News. 25 September 2007.Retrieved8 May2011.
  4. ^Europa Publications Staff,The Far East and Australasia,Routledge, 2003, p. 863.
  5. ^"Aung San Suu Kyi 'strengthened'".BBC News. 8 May 2002.Retrieved10 May2011.
  6. ^Win Thein (11 February 2002)."Burma's Ethnic Groups Banned from Celebrations".The Irrawaddy.Archived fromthe originalon 3 March 2011.Retrieved10 May2011.
  7. ^abcde"MYANMAR Democracy Advocate Put Behind Bars for 93 Years"(PDF).Amnesty International. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 18 February 2011.Retrieved8 May2011.
  8. ^"Shan leader 'losing hair and weight'".Democratic Voice of Burma. 9 February 2010. Archived fromthe originalon 2 March 2011.Retrieved10 May2011.
  9. ^"Calls mount for Shan leader's release".Democratic Voice of Burma. 10 February 2011. Archived fromthe originalon 1 July 2011.Retrieved10 May2011.
  10. ^"Myanmar, Unlock the Prison Doors!"(PDF).Amnesty International. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 29 April 2011.Retrieved17 April2011.
  11. ^Lalit K Jha (4 November 2010)."UN Draft Resolution Silent on Commission of Inquiry".The Irrawaddy.Archived fromthe originalon 2 March 2011.Retrieved10 May2011.
  12. ^Myo Thant (31 March 2011)."Shan leader Khun Htun Oo awarded Nationalities Hero prize".mizzima. Archived fromthe originalon 12 June 2011.Retrieved10 May2011.
  13. ^"High-profile dissidents freed in Burma amnesty".BBC News. 13 January 2012.Retrieved13 January2012.
  14. ^https:// facebook /100064561247649/posts/360138826148156/[user-generated source]
  15. ^https:// facebook /356410201094521/posts/4941739902561505/[user-generated source]

External links[edit]

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