US Campaign for Burma call to release protest prisoners

Free All Protest Prisoners! Tell President Obama: demand all Protest Prisoners be released! Less than two weeks after President Obama visited Burma, Burmese authorities used violence and incendiary devices to burn peaceful protestors, including Buddhist monks, in a pre-dawn raid at the Letpadaug copper mine in Monywa township in Northern Burma. Outrage over the brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters led prominent activists in Rangoon to demonstrate  against the crackdown and demand justice for the Letpadaung copper mine protesters, including 2007 Saffron Revolution leader U Gambira, Generation Wave’s Moe Thway, and Aung Soe. Now they too, along with others, have been arrested and imprisoned on trumped up charges. We demand they be released immediately! It is no coincidence the arrests occurred a mere two weeks after President Obama lifted the last substantial US sanction against Burma. U Gambira (aka Nyi Nyi Lwin) has been charged with three different counts, some stemming from events that occurred months ago unrelated to the current protests. The obtuse and ridiculous charges are brought against him, Burma’s most famous former monk, only now that the international community has lifted all major sanctions. Egregiously, since U Gambira’s release from prison in January was ‘conditional’ he is subject to return to prison to complete his suspended sentence of 63 years. Take Action - Tell President Obama to demand Burma release all political prisoners. Instead of releasing the hundreds of remaining political prisoners, the Burmese government is adding more political prisoners. It is considerably disturbing that peaceful protestors of the mine project are left severely injured or behind bars after the crackdown, when Anti-Rohingya protestors were left unharmed and welcomed with the open arms in the streets. It appears that when the message of a protest aligns with the motivations of the regime, no harm comes to the protesters but threaten the government’s economic interests and violence prevails over reform. This behavior within the government is simply unjustifiable. Stand with us today and take action for those unjustifiably behind bars! Email President Obama urging him to demand the Burmese government unconditionally release all protest prisoners! In solidarity, Brianna Oliver, USCB