Bangkok - Many more people were killed in a September
crackdown on peaceful anti-government protesters than Myanmar's
military regime admits, Human Rights Watch said Friday.
The rights group said that although it would be impossible to
determine the exact toll without full and independent access to
Myanmar, it could document the killings of 20 people in Yangon and
believed the death toll was much higher.
The military government said 15 people died after troops broke up
the country's biggest mass protests in nearly two decades.
Security forces shot into crowds of the monk-led protesters with
live ammunition and rubber bullets, beat marchers and monks, and
detained thousands of people, Human Rights Watch said after an
investigation in which it interviewed more than 100 witnesses in
Myanmar and Thailand.
It added that monks, students and other civilians were among those
killed.
One of the witnesses the rights group interviewed was Thazin Aye,
17, who described a September 27 military raid on a high school.
'The informers pointed to the grass,' Thazin Aye was quoted as
saying. 'Seven young people were hiding there. They got up and ran,
but the soldiers started firing into their backs. They were only able
to run six or seven steps before they fell. Three or four of the
young boys, aged around 20 to 22, were gunned down straight away. The
others tried to run but were caught and taken away in the military
cars.'
A monk named U Khanda also described a September 27 raid on his
monastery.
'They were throwing tear gas and firing their automatic guns into
the buildings of the monastery and used their batons to beat the
monks whenever they saw them,' he said. '... I was injured in the
head when I was hit by baton charges.'
The New York-based group said the military's clampdown on the
least sign of dissent is continuing, mostly out of sight of the
international community.
Hundreds of monks, activists and ordinary citizens remain
unaccounted for in the country once known as Burma although the
regime said 80 people remain in detention and that nine people have
been sentenced to jail terms.
'The crackdown in Burma is far from over,' said Brad Adams, Asia
director at Human Rights Watch. 'Harsh repression continues, and the
government is still lying about the extent of the deaths and
detentions.'
Human Rights Watch criticized the reaction to the protest by
neighbours and allies with influence over Myanmar, notably China,
India, Russia, Thailand and other members of the Association of
South-East Asian Nations members. It also criticized Japan for acting
timidly despite the killing of a Japanese journalist by security
forces.
The agency called for harsher international pressure, including in
the UN Security Council, for the junta to undertake reforms.
'It's time for the world to impose a UN arms embargo and financial
sanctions, to hurt Burma's leaders until they make real changes,'
Adams said. 'Countries like China, India and Thailand have the
responsibility to take action to help hold the generals accountable
and to end this long nightmare of military repression.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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