May 26, 2017

BURMA: Interfaith Prisoners of Conscience Pwint Phyu Latt & Zaw Zaw Latt Released

USCIRF Praises Their Release and Calls for All Prisoners of Conscience to be Freed

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) expressed satisfaction that the government of Burma has released prisoners of conscience Pwint Phyu Latt and Zaw Zaw Latt.  They were released along with more than 250 other prisoners Burma’s government freed as part of a presidential amnesty.

USCIRF Vice Chairman Daniel Mark, who has advocated on behalf of Pwint Phyu Latt and Zaw Zaw Latt, stated that he “welcomed this long-overdue step by Burma’s government. Pwint Phyu Latt and Zaw Zaw Latt, both Muslim, were wrongfully imprisoned for their interfaith activities.  Although I welcome and applaud their release, the fact remains that they never should have been imprisoned in the first place.  I hope their release signals a more positive trajectory for the freedom of religion or belief in Burma.”

Vice Chairman Mark took up the case of Zaw Zaw Latt and Pwint Phyu Latt as part of USCIRF’s Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project. This project highlights the plight of individuals who have been imprisoned for their religious beliefs, practices, or identity and the laws and practices that led to their imprisonment.

At an event in Washington, DC last week for the release of the USCIRF 2017 Annual Report, Vice Chairman Mark cited the case of these interfaith advocates as a dramatic example of a country using security laws to crack down on those pressing for religious freedom.  He highlighted that the Immigration (Emergency Provisions) Act, one of the laws under which Zaw Zaw Latt and Pwint Phyu Latt had been detained and sentenced, had been repealed, yet they were not released and their sentences were not reduced.  Their initial sentence was, in fact, extended in 2016 by two years of hard labor on the same day that more than 100 other prisoners were amnestied.

Vice Chairman Mark called on “the government of Burma to repeal repressive laws and policies that target individuals for peaceful dissent and expression and abide by international human rights standards and the rule of law.”

Although the 2017 USCIRF report noted a historic and peaceful transition of government in Burma in 2016, the Commission still recommended that the U.S. State Department designate Burma as a “Country of Particular Concern.” This recommendation is due to the government perpetrating or tolerating religious freedom violations that are “systematic, ongoing, and egregious,” with the most famous example being the abysmal treatment of the Rohingya Muslims in that country.

For more information, please see the chapter on Burma in USCIRF’s 2017 Annual Report.  Read the chapter in Burmese as well.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission, the first of its kind in the world. USCIRF reviews the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the Congressional leadership of both political parties. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or John D. Lawrence, Director of Communications ([email protected]/+1-202-786-0611).

“Bagir Kazikhanov has languished in prison since April 2014 simply for following the dictates of his conscience,” said USCIRF Commissioner John Ruskay. “It is long overdue for the Russian government to stop equating peaceful religious behavior with terrorism or extremism and immediately release Bagir Kazikhanov and other prisoners of conscience who have been imprisoned on false charges of extremism.”

Commissioner John Ruskay has taken up the case of Bagir Kazikhanov as part of USCIRF’s Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project. This project highlights the plight of individuals who have been imprisoned for their religious beliefs, practices, or identity.

Kazikhanov organized regular study sessions in rented apartments between 2012 and 2014 in Dagestan, a Russian republic, where he was born.  During these study sessions, he and fellow Muslims studied the works of the highly regarded theologian Said Nursi. Kazikhanov was sentenced on February 25, 2015 to three and a half years’ imprisonment after being convicted under Part One of Art. 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code for participating in “extremist activity.”

The Russian government continues to surveil, investigate, and prosecute Said Nursi readers for alleged extremism despite no apparent link to such activities. Another reader of Nursi’s writings was arrested in Russia a few weeks ago, bringing the number of Muslims known to be on trial or under criminal investigation for meeting to study Nursi's writings to twelve. On April 10, 2008, the Russian Supreme Court  banned the “Nurdzhular” organization, an alleged conspiracy of Nursi followers which is widely believed to be a legal fiction the Russian government invented to facilitate the prosecution of Nursi adherents.

Due to these and other actions the Russian government has taken, USCIRF for the first time recommended in the 2017 Annual Report that Russia be designated as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) for its “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” violations of religious freedom. For more information, please see USCIRF’s 2017 Annual Report chapter on Russia. The Russian translation may be found here.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission, the first of its kind in the world, dedicated to defending the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad. To learn more about the Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project or to interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or John D. Lawrence, Director of Communications ([email protected]/+1-202-786-0611).

Commissioner Jackie Wolcott sent the following letter to Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh and Mrs. Tran Thi Hong on May 15, 2017.

Click here to view the Vietnamese translation of the letter.

Dear Pastor Chinh and Mrs. Hong:

I write to you as a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and a person of faith who is deeply concerned about your well-being.  I want to express my Commission’s and my own support and solidarity with you as you continue your struggles in support of religious freedom.  Your plight rightfully has drawn the attention of people worldwide.

This is a poignant time to highlight your struggle.  Twelve years ago this month, the United States and Vietnam reached an agreement requiring the Vietnamese government to improve religious freedom conditions in your country.  Sadly, and as you know all too well, this agreement largely has been followed by more restrictions, not more freedom.

Tragically, Pastor Chinh, your detention for more than five years of your 11-year prison sentence is clearly and completely unjust. I understand that the Vietnamese authorities are denying you vitally needed medical treatment as you serve prison time for the alleged crime of “undermining national solidarity.”  As a minister to the Christian community in the Central Highlands, the government should protect, not punish, your voice for peaceful criticism of restrictions on religious freedom.  

Mrs. Hong, we understand that you too have been subjected to frequent government surveillance and harassment, including one year ago this month when Vietnamese police officers harshly interrogated you, burst into your home and assaulted your son.  Please know that I will not forget your family’s ill-treatment.

As a religious freedom advocate myself, I have been deeply inspired by both of you and your resiliency under these cruel conditions.  As long as you remain in prison, Pastor, and as long as the Vietnamese authorities continue to unfairly treat you and your family, please be assured that I am dedicated to publicly and privately working on your behalf, so that your family can be reunited and you can freely practice your faith, openly and without further threat.

With deepest respect,

Ambassador Jackie Wolcott

Ambassador Jackie Wolcott is a Commissioner at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a U.S. government body that monitors the universal right to religious freedom. 

USCIRF’s Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project highlights the plight of individuals who have been imprisoned for their religious beliefs, practices or identity.  To learn more about this project or to interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected].