Myanmar military government sets long prison terms for election protests
The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported that the new law took effect on Tuesday, months before elections expected at the end of this year.
The legislation bans 'any speech, organising, inciting, protesting or distributing leaflets in order to destroy a part of the electoral process' – which opposition groups and international monitors have slammed as a ploy to shore up military rule.
Those convicted of violating the law face three to seven years in prison, with group offences punishable by five to 10 years.
The law also criminalises damaging ballot papers or polling stations, and intimidating or harming voters, candidates or election workers – with sentences of up to 20 years. If anyone is killed during an attempt to disrupt the election, 'everyone involved in the crime faces the death penalty,' the law says.
Myanmar's military government seized power in a 2021 coup that prompted a many-sided civil war, and swaths of the country remain outside the military's control. Some state census workers deployed last year to gather data before the poll faced resistance and security threats.
Data could not be collected from an estimated 19 million of the country's 51 million people, provisional results said, in part because of 'significant security constraints'.
Analysts have predicted that the myriad of anti-coup fighter groups and ethnic armed groups which the military is battling may stage offensives in the run-up to the vote as a sign of their opposition.
A United Nations expert called on the international community last month to reject the election plan as 'a fraud'.
Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said the military is 'trying to create this mirage of an election exercise that will create a legitimate civilian government'.
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A year after Hasina's fall, Bangladesh teeters between hope and deadlock
Dhaka, Bangladesh – Sinthia Mehrin Sokal remembers the blow to her head on July 15 last year when she, along with thousands of fellow students, marched during a protest against a controversial quota system in government jobs in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka. The attack by an activist belonging to the student wing of the then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League party left Sokal – a final-year student of criminology at the University of Dhaka – with 10 stitches and temporary memory loss. A day later, Abu Sayed, another 23-year-old student, was protesting at Begum Rokeya University in the Rangpur district, about 300km (186 miles) north of Dhaka, when he was shot by the police. A video of him, with his arms outstretched and collapsing on the ground moments later, went viral, igniting an unprecedented movement against Hasina, who governed the country with an iron fist for more than 15 years before she was toppled last August. Students from schools, colleges, universities and madrassas took to the streets, defying a brutal crackdown. Soon, the young protesters were joined by their parents, teachers and other citizens. Opposition parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, lent crucial support, forming an unlikely united front against Hasina's government. 'Even students in remote areas came out in support. It felt like real change was coming,' Sokal told Al Jazeera. On August 5, 2024, as tens of thousands of protesters stormed Hasina's palatial residence and offices in Dhaka, the 77-year-old leader boarded a military helicopter and fled to neighbouring India, her main ally, where she continues to defy a Bangladesh court's orders to face trial for crimes against humanity and other charges. By the time Hasina fled, more than 1,400 people had been killed, most when government forces fired on protesters, and thousands of others were wounded, according to the United Nations. Three days after Hasina fled, the protesters installed an interim government, on August 8, 2024, led by the country's only Nobel laureate, Muhammad Yunus. In May this year, the interim government banned the Awami League from any political activity until trials over last year's killings of the protesters concluded. The party's student wing, the Chhatra League, was banned under anti-terrorism laws in October 2024. Yet, as Bangladesh marks the first anniversary of the end of Hasina's government on Tuesday, Sokal said the sense of unity and hope that defined the 2024 uprising has given way to disillusionment and despair. 'They're selling the revolution,' she said, referring to the various political groups now jostling for power ahead of general elections expected next year. 'The change we fought for remains out of reach,' said added. 'The [interim] government no longer owns the uprising.' 'What was my son's sacrifice for?' Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner presiding over Bangladesh's democratic overhaul, faces mounting political pressure, even as his interim government seeks consensus on drafting a new constitution. Rival factions that marched shoulder to shoulder during anti-Hasina protests are now locked in political battles over the way forward for Bangladesh. On Tuesday, Yunus is expected to unveil a so-called July Proclamation, a document to mark the anniversary of Hasina's ouster, which will outline the key reforms that his administration argues Bangladesh needs – and a roadmap to achieve that. But not many are hopeful. 'Our children took to the streets for a just, democratic and sovereign Bangladesh. But that's not what we're getting,' said Sanjida Khan Deepti, whose 17-year-old son Anas was shot dead by the police during a peaceful march near Dhaka's Chankharpul area on August 5, 2024. Witnesses said Anas was unarmed and running for cover when a police bullet struck him in the back. He died on the spot, still clutching a national flag. 'The reforms and justice for the July killings that we had hoped – it's not duly happening,' the 36-year-old mother told Al Jazeera. 'We took to the streets for a better, peaceful and just country. If that doesn't happen, then what was my son's sacrifice for?' Others, however, continue to hold firm in their trust in the interim government. 'No regrets,' said Khokon Chandra Barman, who lost almost his entire face after he was shot by the police in the Narayanganj district. 'I am proud that my sacrifice helped bring down a regime built on discrimination,' he told Al Jazeera. Barman feels the country is in better hands now under the Yunus-led interim government. 'The old evils won't disappear overnight. But we are hopeful.' Atikul Gazi agreed. 'Yunus sir is capable and trying his best,' Gazi told Al Jazeera on Sunday. 'If the political parties fully cooperated with him, things would be even better.' The 21-year-old TikToker from Dhaka's Uttara area survived being shot at point-blank range on August 5, 2024, but lost his left arm. A selfie video of him smiling, despite missing an arm, posted on September 16 last year, went viral, making him a symbol of resilience. 'I'm not afraid… I'm back in the field. One hand may be gone, but my life is ready to be offered anew.' 'Instability could increase' Others are less optimistic. 'That was a moment of unprecedented unity,' said Mohammad Golam Rabbani, a professor of history at Jahangirnagar University on the outskirts of Dhaka. Rabbani had recited a poem during a campus protest on July 29, 2024. Speaking at an event last month to commemorate the uprising, he said: 'Safeguarding that unity should have been the new government's first task. But they let it slip.' The coalition of students, professionals and activists, called Students Against Discrimination, that brought down Hasina's government, began to fragment even before Yunus took charge. Hoping to cash in on massive anti-Awami League sentiment, the main opposition BNP has been demanding immediate elections since the uprising. But parties like the National Citizens Party, formed by student leaders of the 2024 protests, and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami want deeper structural reforms before any vote is held. To reconcile such demands, the Yunus administration formed a National Consensus Commission on February 12 this year. Its mandate is to merge multiple reform agendas outlined by expert panels into a single political blueprint. Any party or coalition that wins the next general election must formally pledge to implement this charter. But so far, the meetings of the commission have been marked by rifts and dissent, mainly over having a bicameral parliament, adopting proportional representation in both its houses, and reforming the appointment process for key constitutional bodies by curbing the prime minister's influence to ensure greater neutrality and non-partisanship. 'If the political forces fail to agree on reforms, instability could increase,' warned analyst Rezaul Karim Rony. But Mubashar Hasan, adjunct fellow at Western Sydney University's Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative, thinks a political deadlock is 'unlikely', and that most stakeholders seem to be moving towards elections next year. Hasan, however, remains sceptical of the reforms themselves, calling them a 'cosmetic reset'. 'There'll be some democratic progress, but not a genuine shift,' he told Al Jazeera. He pointed out that the Awami League, which once represented millions, remains banned – a fact that some analysts have pointed out could weaken the credibility of Bangladesh's electoral democracy. Deepti, who lost her teenage son during the protests, said political parties are scrambling for power, and not acting against the people who enabled Hasina's brutal repression during last year's protests. 'Most of the officials and law enforcement members involved in the violence are still at large, while political parties are more focused on grabbing power,' she told Al Jazeera. Sharif Osman Bin Hadi, the spokesman for Inquilab Manch (Revolution Front), a non-partisan cultural organisation inspired by the uprising, warned that elections without justice and reforms would 'push the country back into the jaws of fascism'. His group, with more than 1,000 members in 25 districts, organises poetry readings, exhibitions and street performances to commemorate the 2024 uprising and demand accountability, amid widespread concerns over deteriorating law and order across the country. 'A city of demonstrations' While the police remain discredited and are yet to recover from the taint of complicity in perpetuating Hasina's strong-armed governance, military soldiers are seen patrolling Bangladesh's streets, armed with special power to arrest, detain and, in extreme cases, even fire on those breaking the law. In a recent report, rights group Odhikar said at least 72 people were killed and 1,677 others injured in incidents of political violence between April and June this year. The group also documented eight alleged extrajudicial killings during this period involving the police and notorious paramilitary forces like the Rapid Action Battalion. Other crimes have also surged. Police recorded 1,587 cases of murder between January and May this year, a 25 percent rise from the same period last year. Robbery nearly doubled to 318, while crimes against women and children topped 9,100. Kidnapping and robbery have also seen a spike. 'Mob justice and targeted killings have surged, many with political links,' Md Ijajul Islam, the executive director of the nonprofit Human Rights Support Society, told Al Jazeera. 'Unless political parties rein in their activists, a demoralised police won't be able to contain it.' The demoralisation within the police stems mostly from the 2024 uprising itself, when more than 500 police stations were attacked across Bangladesh and law enforcement officials were missing from the streets for more than a week. 'The force had to restart from a morally-broken state,' Ijajul said. Several police officers Al Jazeera spoke to at the grassroots level pointed to another problem: the collapse of what they called an informal political order in rural areas. 'During the Awami League era, police often worked in tandem with the ruling party leaders, who mediated local disputes,' said a senior police officer at the Roumari police station in the Kurigram district near the border with India. 'That structure is gone. Now multiple factions – from BNP, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and others – are trying to control markets, transport hubs and government tenders,' he said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. In Dhaka, things are no better. 'Every day, managing street protests has become one of our major duties,' Talebur Rahman, a deputy commissioner with the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told Al Jazeera. 'It feels like Dhaka has become 'a city of demonstrations' – people break into government offices, just to make their demands heard,' said Rahman. Still, Rahman claimed the city's law and order situation was better than immediately after the 2024 uprising. In a televised interview on July 15, Yunus's spokesperson, Shafiqul Alam, also claimed that 'if you consider overall statistics, things are stabilising', he told Somoy Television network, referring to law and order in Dhaka. Alam said that many people who were denied justice for years, including during the uprising, are now coming forward to register cases. Some agree. 'Things are slowly improving,' said 38-year-old rickshaw-puller Mohammad Shainur in Dhaka's upscale Bashundhara neighbourhood. The economy, for one, has shown some positive signs. Bangladesh is the world's 35th largest economy and the second in South Asia – mainly driven by its thriving garment and agriculture industries. Foreign reserves climbed from more than $24bn in May 2024, to nearly $32bn by June this year, helped by a crackdown on illicit capital flight, record remittances and new funding from the International Monetary Fund. Inflation, which peaked at 11.7 percent in July 2024, dropped to 8.5 percent by June this year. But there is also widespread joblessness, with the International Labour Organization saying that nearly 30 percent of Bangladesh's youth are neither employed nor pursuing education. Moreover, a 20 percent tariff announced by the United States, the largest buyer of Bangladesh's garments, also threatens the livelihood of 4 million workers employed in the key sector. Back in Dhaka, Gazi is determined to preserve the memory of 2024's protests. 'Let the people remember those martyred in the uprising, and those of us who were injured,' he told Al Jazeera. 'We want to remain as living symbols of that freedom.' 'I lost one hand, and I have no regrets. I will give my life if needed – this country must be governed well, no matter who holds power.'
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Brazil Supreme Court justice orders house arrest of embattled Bolsonaro
Brazil's Supreme Court has issued an house arrest order for former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is standing trial for allegedly plotting a coup. The decision issued Monday comes a day after protests in support of the former far-right president were held across Brazil. Bolsonaro is accused of seeking to overturn the 2022 election won by his left-wing opponent, current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. More to come…
