Free Burma VJ Campaign

• Burma has one of the world’s most repressive media environments and consistently ranks at the bottom of global press freedom indexes.

• The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) is calling for the release of the jailed DVB journalists.

• Sign petition to Free Burma’s VJs and other political prisoners.

Send Hope to Burma’s VJs!

• Create your own postcard and send a special message to the VJs:

• Security concerns mean that 12 of the VJs cannot be named. You can address your card to one of these: Hla Hla Win, Win Maw, Ngwe Soe Lin, Sithu Zeya or Maung Maung Zeya.

• The postcards will be shown at an exhibition in Thailand in December 2011. After this showing, the postcards will be sent to the prisons in which five of the VJs are held.

• Please send the postcard to:
Géraldine May,
PO Box 198, Mae Ping Post Office,
Chiang Mai, Thailand 50301.

About the film BURMA VJ

The film documents the bravery of Burma’s young video-journalists who recorded footage of the peaceful protests lead by the monks in September 2007 and the subsequent brutal crackdown by the military, in what became known as Burma’s Saffron Revolution.

Free Burma’s Political Prisoners

There are currently 1,668 political prisoners in jails across Burma, including monks, students, elected members of parliament and lawyers.

Anyone can be detained for being involved in democracy activities and peaceful demonstrations. If you distribute one pamphlet, you could be sentenced to seven years with hard labour, without a fair trial. Despite the symbolic reforms taken by President Thein Sein, activists continue to be arrested and tortured during detention. In October, eight political prisoners who went on hunger strike in Insein prison were placed in a military dog cell. The other striking prisoners have been denied water, their right to family visits, and any goods or parcels sent to them.

In October 2008, the regime began to sentence hundreds of activists to harsh prison terms of up to 104 years. In November 2008, the regime started to transfer political prisoners to jails all across Burma, making it very difficult for their loved ones to visit and provide essential food and medicines.

The most high profile activists have been transferred to the most remote prisons, which is a new psychological strategy by the regime designed to cut them off from their family support system. In previous years, the most high profile political prisoners were held under tight security in Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison.

In the general prisoner amnesty in October, it is estimated that 240 political prisoners were released. The famous comedian Ko Zarganar, arrested for helping victims of Cyclone Nargis, was one of the highest profile prisoners released. He has not been allowed to perform since. Also released was General Hso Ten of the Shan State Army, who was serving a 106 year sentence. However, many of those who have an important role to play in shaping the democratic landscape of Burma continue to be held behind bars including Min Ko Naing and the monk U Gambira.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP-B), as of 14 November 2011, Burma’s political prisoners consist of at least

• 194 Monks
• 313 NLD Members
• 10 MPs
• 244 Students
• 28 88-Generation Students
• 23 Human Rights Defenders & Promoters
• 20 Media activists including bloggers, journalists, writers, poets,
cameramen, musicians
• 38 Labour Activists
• 12 Lawyers
• 24 Teachers
• 8 Doctors
• 455 Individual Activists
• 16 Cyclone Nargis Volunteers.

At least 303 of the political prisoners are ethnic nationalities, 128 of them are females and 122 are known to be in bad health.