News Release
Myanmar: Ensure Accountability for Murder of Prominent
Lawyer U Ko Ni and Taxi Driver U Nay Win
Deep Condolences Expressed to Victims’ Families and Loved
Ones
(YANGON, January 30,
2017)—The Government of Myanmar should hold to account those responsible for
the fatal shootings of U Ko Ni and U Nay Win at Yangon International Airport,
Fortify Rights said today. A gunman shot and killed Muslim lawyer and human rights
advocate U Ko Ni at close range yesterday and subsequently shot taxi driver U
Nay Win, who later died of his injuries.
“We’re shocked and deeply
saddened by this heinous act,” said Matthew Smith, chief executive officer of
Fortify Rights. “The authorities should do everything in their power to ensure
accountability and bring those responsible to justice.”
U Ko Ni, 65, died on the
spot after a gunman shot him point blank outside Yangon International Airport
at approximately 4:30 pm on January 29. As U Nay Win, 42, attempted to
apprehend the assailant, the assailant fatally shot him.
The Myanmar police arrested
the gunman at the scene. According to the police, he is a 53-year-old Myanmar
national. The motive of the murder remains unknown.
U Ko Ni was one of Myanmar’s
most prominent Muslim lawyers and a distinguished legal advocate for human
rights. His work in recent years focused on improving Myanmar’s justice system
and bringing laws in line with human rights standards. For example, U Ko Ni was
instrumental in facilitating the repeal the 1950 Emergency Provisions
Act and amendments to provisions of the 2012 Ward or Village Tract
Administration Law—two laws long used by the authorities to target human rights
defenders and minorities.
In March 2015, U Ko Ni joined Fortify Rights to
launch a report in Yangon documenting how the guest-registration
requirement under the 2012 Ward or Village Tract Administration Law impinged on
human rights to privacy and freedoms of movement, residency, and association.
Having receiving his
Bachelor of Laws degree from Yangon University of Arts and Sciences in 1976, U
Ko Ni became a lecturer in the university’s Department of Law and later founded
the Laurel Law Firm in 1995. Following by-elections in 2012, he began working
as a legal advisor to Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and the now
ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party. He was also a founder of the
newly established Myanmar Muslim Lawyers Association. His expertise in
constitutional law and commitment to promoting human rights in Myanmar won him
the esteem of lawyers, activists, and politicians alike.
Despite widespread respect
for his work, U Ko Ni faced harassment and intimidation from political and
religious hardliners in Myanmar.
“I am a targeted person,” U
Ko Ni told Fortify Rights in 2015. “It is because I am a legal advisor to Aung
San Suu Kyi and to the NLD. And I am a central committee member of the
Constitutional Reform Committee.”
Enormous crowds assembled
today for U Ko Ni’s funeral at Yay Way Cemetery in Yangon, including Buddhists,
Muslims, politicians, civil society, loved ones, and family. Fortify Rights
expresses its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of U Ko Ni and
U Nay Win.
“U Ko Ni was a brilliant and
courageous man who dedicated his life to making Myanmar a more
rights-respecting country,” said Matthew Smith. “This is an enormous loss for
all the people of Myanmar and to the entire human rights movement.”
For more information, please
contact:
Matthew Smith, Fortify
Rights, Chief Executive Officer, +66 (0) 87.795.5454,
Matthew.Smith@fortifyrights.org;
Twitter: @matthewfsmith, @FortifyRights
Amy Smith, Fortify Rights,
Executive Director, +66 (0)
87.795.5454, amy.smith@fortifyrights.org; Twitter: @AmyAlexSmith, @FortifyRights