The 88 Generation Students' Group Involvement
The 88 Generation Students Group is an organisation synonymous with the long struggle for democracy in military-ruled Burma and take their name from a 1988 student-led uprising which was evenutally suppressed by the military. In a rare announcement in all state-run newspapers, the junta said that the dissidents were arrested for undermining the peace and security of the state, according to The Epoch Times.
Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Mya Aye, Pyone Cho, Jimmy and Yin Htun were among those from the 88 Generation Student group arrested. On 21 August 2007, 14 student leaders of the 88 Student Generation of Democracy were arrested.
The 14 members are Paw U Tun (also known as Min Ko Naing), Ko Ko Gyi, Pyone Cho (also known as Htay Win Aung), Min Zeyar, Mya Aye, Jimmy (Kyaw Min Yu), Zeya, Ant Bwe Kyaw, Kyaw Kyaw Htwe (Marki), Panneik Tun, Zaw Zaw Min, Thet Zaw, Nyan Lin Tun and Ko Yin Htun. They were arrested by security officials and members of the state-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA).
"Military intelligence and government intelligence seized their houses and searched their houses,” told another dissident, Htay Kywe, who escaped and fled to neighbouring Thailand. Despite the arrests, reports from Burma said that campaigners took to the streets again the following day to protest against the government’s recent increase in fuel prices.
No warrants were produced for the arrests and according to an article published in the state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar, they will be charged under Law 5/96, which provides for up to 20 years in prison, for their involvement in “acts undermining the efforts to successfully carry out peaceful transfer of state power and facilitate the proceedings of the National Convention.” Following the arrests, members of the security forces allegedly searched the homes of the afore-mentioned individuals and confiscated documents and compact discs. Reports claimed that they were detained at Kyaikkasan Detention Centre before being transferred to the notorious Insein Prison outside Yangon where they were at risk of torture, including beatings and electric shocks.
Along Min Ko Naing, Nilar Thein, and many other 88 Generation activists, Mya Aye was released on 13 January 2012 as part of a mass presidential pardon for political prisoners.
Read more about this topic: Mya Aye
Famous quotes containing the words generation, group and/or involvement:
“This generation is very sure to plant corn and beans each new year precisely as the Indians did centuries ago and taught the first settlers to do, as if there were a fate in it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Once it was a boat, quite wooden
and with no business, no salt water under it
and in need of some paint. It was no more
than a group of boards. But you hoisted her, rigged her.
She’s been elected.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“The mother whose self-image is dependent on her children places on those children the responsibility for her own identity, and her involvement in the details of their lives can put great pressure on the children. A child suffers when everything he or she does is extremely important to a parent; this kind of over-involvement can turn even a small problem into a crisis.”
—Grace Baruch (20th century)