The UK says it is “urgently” investigating how it can tighten sanctions on Myanmar military leaders who staged a coup last week, as civil society groups in the country raised alarm over a draft cybersecurity bill they fear will be one of the first laws the junta implements.
Protests against the coup were held in Myanmar for a sixth consecutive day on Thursday with tens of thousands marching in the capital, Naypyidaw, and the country’s largest city, Yangon.
“Don’t go to the office,” chanted a group of protesters outside Myanmar’s central bank in Yangon, part of an effort urging civil servants and people in other industries to boycott work and put pressure on the junta.
“We aren’t doing this for a week or a month – we are determined to do this until the end when [Aung San Suu Kyi] and President U Win Myint are released,” one protesting bank employee told Agence France-Presse.
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The junta’s leader, Gen Min Aung Hlaing, who led last week’s coup against Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government, broke his silence about the protests in a statement on Thursday urging government employees to return to work after absences that he blamed on harassment by “unscrupulous persons”. He also warned that the gatherings in major cities and towns across Myanmar risked spreading coronavirus.
The UK foreign secretary welcomed the announcement of new sanctions by the US and said he was “urgently looking” to bolster Britain’s existing sanctions regime against Myanmar military leaders.
“The international community will not accept the coup in Myanmar and we will hold those responsible to account,” Dominic Raab tweeted.
The US president, Joe Biden, announced on Wednesday that his administration was cutting off the generals’ access to $1bn (£720m) in funds in the US. The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has also warned the bloc could impose fresh sanctions on Myanmar’s military.
The United Nations’ top human rights body is to consider a resolution on Friday drafted by Britain and the EU condemning the coup and demanding urgent access for monitors. However, diplomats said China and Russia – which both have ties to Myanmar’s armed forces – were expected to raise objections or try to weaken the text.
Concern was also building on Thursday that the junta was planning to impose a much harsher and sustained internet crackdown.
A coalition of civil society groups warned that telecom operators and internet service providers in Myanmar had been sent a draft of a proposed cybersecurity bill that they said was designed to suppress the protest movement.
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On 1 February Myanmar’s army took power in a coup against the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. She and other senior party figures were detained in a morning raid. In response, tens of thousands have protested in the streets of Yangon and other cities as part of a growing campaign of civil disobedience. The military have blocked social media platforms in an attempt to stamp out dissent. The United Nations Security Council has called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other ministers detained.
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The bill, which was initially drafted by Aung San Suu Kyi’s government – though may have since been changed – carries penalties of up to three years in prison for spreading misinformation or disinformation and punishes people who create fake accounts or websites “for the purpose of causing public panic, loss of trust or social division”.
The civil society statement said the bill “violate[d] human rights including the rights to freedom of expression, data protection and privacy, and other democratic principles and human rights in the online space”.
The bill was an attempt “by the current military regime to oppress those who are against its rule, and to restrict the mobilisation and momentum of online resistance, we strongly condemn this action by the current military regime in accordance with our democratic principles”, it added.
Norway-based Telenor, which had complied to block social media platforms where an online anti-coup campaign was proliferating, said it was reviewing the law.
Friday is expected to be a key day for the protest movements with a public holiday likely to draw large crowds on to the streets.
Young doctors in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second biggest city, have opened free clinics while healthcare personnel take part in the civil disobedience movement. Two clinics opened on 10 February and there were plans to open another two.
Agencies contributed to this story
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