Su Su Nway (, ; born 1971; also known as Su Su Nwe) is a Burmese democracy activist and
political prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
. In 2005, she became the first Burmese national to successfully sue local government officials under a 1999 law on
forced labour.
Forced labor case and subsequent imprisonment
Su Su Nway is from
Htan Manaing village,
Kawhmu Township
Kawmhu Township ( my, ကော့မှူး မြို့နယ် ) is a township of Yangon Region, Myanmar. It is located in the southwestern section of the Region. Kawhmu was one of the townships in Yangon Region most affected by Cyclon ...
(located 50 mi from
Yangon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
), in
Yangon region
Yangon Region(, ; formerly Rangoon Division and Yangon Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar. Located in the heart of Lower Myanmar, the division is bordered by Bago Region to the north and east, the Gulf of Martaban to the south, ...
.
She filed a complaint after she, along with other villagers, were forced into working on a road construction project by the local Village Tract Peace and Development Council.
The case was then pursued by NLD lawyers. As a result of the case, on 3 September 2004, Sein Paw, Chairman of the Htanmanaing Village Tract Peace and Development Council, was sentenced to 16 months in prison, while Council members Kyaw Thin, Myint Thein, and Aung Khin were sentenced to eight months each. Following the court case, Su Su Nway stated that Sein Paw passed her on the road with a companion and told her she should be "beaten to death".
In 2005, the new town chairman charged her with harassment and defamation, a tactic that the
Asian Human Rights Commission noted to be a common reprisal against Burmese activists.
Su Su Nway was then sentenced to an 18-month term in
Insein Prison
Insein Prison ( my, အင်းစိန်ထောင်) is located in Yangon Division, near Yangon (Rangoon), the old capital of Myanmar (formerly Burma). From 1988 to 2011 it was run by the military junta of Myanmar, named the State Law an ...
. Before her sentencing, she told reporters, "I have no responsibility, no power and no position. They plot against a common girl, a disease sufferer, and sue her because they are afraid. If they are afraid like that, our side is winning."
In February 2006, Nway attempted to appeal to the
Supreme Court, but her case was rejected, after having appealed to district courts that rejected her cases. She was released on 6 June 2006, as a result of international pressure from the
United States government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...
, the
International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...
(ILO), the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
(UN), and
NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
s.
Now (2018) Su Su Nway established the Myanmar Farmer Union in 2012 and she became the Chairperson. Su Su Nway teach her members of Myanmar Farmer Union Land Law.
Second imprisonment
Su Su Nway was in hiding for much of 2007, but took part in the
August protests against high fuel prices, narrowly escaping a second arrest.
On 13 November 2007, she was arrested for hanging a banner near the hotel where UN Human Rights Envoy
Paulo Pinheiro was staying while visiting the country.
On 11 November 2008, Su Su Nway was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison. This was reduced by four years in February 2009. Su Su Nway is currently in
Hkamti Prison in
Sagaing Region
Sagaing Region ( my, စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Sagaing Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the north-western part of the country between latitude 21° 30' north and lon ...
.
She suffers from a congenital heart condition and
high blood pressure, and was initially denied her heart medication by prison officials.
She was hospitalized on 20 May 2009, and though she recovered, Amnesty International reports that prison officials have continued to deny her family visits, sufficient food, clean clothes, and adequate medical care.
Release
On 10 October 2011, she was released along with comedian
Zarganar
Maung Thura "Zarganar" (also called Zaganar, my, ဇာဂနာ; also Zargana, ); born 27 January 1961) is a popular Burmese comedian, film actor, and a film director as well as a fierce critic and often political prisoner of the Burmese mili ...
and
88 Generation Student Group activist
Zaw Htet Ko Ko as part of a
series of amnesties for political prisoners.
Recognition
In 2005, Su Su Nway received a human rights award from the NLD.
The following year, she was awarded the
John Humphrey Freedom Award by the Canadian human rights group
Rights & Democracy. In 2007,
People in Need
People in Need (PIN) ( cz, Člověk v tísni) is a Czech nonprofit, non-governmental organisation based in Prague, Czech Republic. PIN implements humanitarian relief and long term development projects, educational programmes, and human rights pr ...
awarded Su Su Nway,
Phyu Phyu Thin, and
Nilar Thein their
Homo Homini Award
The Homo Homini Award (Latin: "A human to another human") is given annually by the Czech human rights organization People in Need to "an individual in recognition of a dedication to the promotion of human rights, democracy and non-violent solutions ...
. Amnesty International considers her a
prisoner of conscience and a "priority case".
UNISON
In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm.
Definition
Unison or per ...
, the UK's second-largest trade union, issued a statement on her behalf on 23 September 2010, and general secretary
Dave Prentis
David Prentis, Baron Prentis of Leeds (born 29 May 1948) is a British trade unionist and former General Secretary of UNISON, the United Kingdom's largest trade union. He was originally elected in 2000. He was re-elected in March 2005, with 77% ...
was photographed with her name on his hand for an Amnesty International campaign.
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
MP
Luciana Berger
Luciana Clare Berger (; born 13 May 1981) is a British former Member of Parliament who was MP for Liverpool Wavertree from 2010 to 2019. Initially a member of Labour Co-op, in 2019 she left and co-founded The Independent Group, later Change UK ...
was also photographed for the campaign.
References
*
Notes
External links
Su Su Nway webpage of Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)Su Su Nway's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Su Su Nway
1971 births
Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Myanmar
Burmese democracy activists
Living people
People from Yangon
Burmese prisoners and detainees