In 2015, she led the NLD to victory in Myanmar's first openly contested election in 25 years. Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Htun declined to speak with The Times. It has a population of about 54 million, most of whom are Burmese speakers, although other languages are also spoken. The country gained independence from Britain in 1948. U Kyi Thar, the chief executive of Myanmar Future Science, confirmed that his company began the repair work on the drones in late 2019 and continued into 2020. A police officer recording protesters and journalists last month. It has also relied on Western companies that saw the country’s five years of hybrid civilian-military rule as an opening, legally and politically, to build a frontier market in what appeared to be a nascent democracy. “To my knowledge, they use Cellebrite to scan and recover data from cellphones.”. Kyaw Soe Oo, one of two Reuters journalists imprisoned for reporting on a Rohingya massacre, arriving at trial in 2018. The 2020-2021 Ministry of Home Affairs budget allocations include units from MSAB, a Swedish company that supplies forensic data tools for militaries around the world. At defense procurement fairs, Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Htun showed off Western spyware to crowds of men in uniform, and he boasted on social media about hosting an American defense manufacturer in Myanmar. The main religion is Buddhism. The company’s drones have been connected to ongoing conflicts in Myanmar. Last year, MSAB and Cellebrite, among other Western cyber-surveillance firms, pulled out of Hong Kong, where the police used phone hacking technology to monitor democracy activists. In a series of morning raids, the military arrests senior government members and declares a state of emergency. © 2021 BBC. A spokesman for Elbit said that it has had no dealings with Myanmar since 2015 or 2016. Here's a look at the long arm of the military. In Myanmar, they are the digital weapons for an intensifying campaign in which security forces have killed at least 25 people and detained more than 1,100, including the ousted civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The protests over the coup have been the largest since the so-called Saffron Revolution in 2007, when thousands of monks rose up against the military regime. Myanmar's military junta promised on Tuesday that there would be an election and it would hand over power as police filed an additional charge against toppled former leader Aung San Suu Kyi. “To be honest, we did suspect that they were using the technological devices for bad purposes, like surveillance of the people,” said Mr. Thein Tan. On Monday, she was hit with new criminal charges — making a statement that could alarm the public and inducing someone to act against the state — that could put her in prison for years. Video, Celebrating the world's largest female afro. Documentation for post-coup arrest warrants, which were reviewed by The Times, shows that Myanmar’s security forces have triangulated between their critics’ social media posts and the individual addresses of their internet hookups to find where they live. The army in Myanmar have claimed an election in November 2020 was fraudulent and have taken control of the country. In the most egregious cases, firms supplied surveillance tools and weaponry to the military and the ministries it controlled, evading arms embargoes and export bans. Mr. Tjernberg did not answer questions about how his products ended up in the latest budget. Some countries, including the UK, initially refused to use the name as a way of denying the regime's legitimacy. However, China blocked a UN Security Council statement condemning the coup. His connections were extensive. Beijing, which has previously opposed international intervention in Myanmar, urged all sides to "resolve differences". Protesters include teachers, lawyers, students, bank officers and government workers. The military says it will hold a "free and fair" election once the state of emergency is over. The political crisis in Myanmar took a new turn Thursday when supporters of the military junta in Yangon attacked demonstrators protesting the February 1 … Neighbours including Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines, have said it is an "internal matter". People in Myanmar have been protesting against the military coup in perhaps their most creative way yet - by chasing shallots all over the streets of … A video feed seen by a lawyer appeared to show her looking healthy. Henrik Tjernberg, the chairman of MSAB, said that some of the company’s “legacy technology” had ended up in Myanmar a few years ago, but it no longer sold equipment there because of a European Union export ban on dual-use products that can be used for domestic repression. Some of this technology, including satellite and telecommunications upgrades, helped people in Myanmar go online and integrate with the world after decades of isolation. Find Myanmar Military Latest News, Videos & Pictures on Myanmar Military and see latest updates, news, information from NDTV.COM. The assembly of Myanmar’s modern surveillance state has depended partly on patrons like China and Russia that have few qualms about equipping authoritarians. Thousands of Rohingya were killed and more than 700,000 fled to Bangladesh following an army crackdown in 2017. Myanmar Military Promises New Election; Suu Kyi Faces Additional Charge It also defended its Feb. 1 seizure of power, denying it was a coup even as … Myanmar coup: Military leaders must release Aung San Suu Kyi - Raab. The New York Times Myanmar’s Coup in Pictures A military truck in Yangon, Myanmar, on Monday, after the military detained the country’s civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and the president. The armed forces had backed the opposition, who were demanding a rerun of the vote, claiming widespread fraud. The cases related to a section in the telecommunications law on online defamation, which human rights groups say is used to criminalize dissent. Myanmar, also known as Burma, is in South East Asia. The company, she said, does not sell to countries sanctioned by the United States, European Union, Britain or Israel. On Friday, as the UN General Assembly met to discuss the situation in #Myanmar, the … It was ruled by the armed forces from 1962 until 2011, when a new government began ushering in a return to civilian rule. It was ruled by the armed forces from 1962 until 2011, when a new government began ushering in a return to civilian rule. International scrutiny has made a difference. Myanmar: Bloodiest day since coup as '38 killed' in military crackdown. The military in Myanmar has already filed laughably trivial criminal charges against Aung San Suu Kyi and the elected president, Win Myint, who is also from the NLD. These MSAB field units can download the contents of mobile devices and recover deleted items, according to notations in the budget. Cellebrite said that after the Reuters case was publicized, “these licenses were unequivocally not renewed.” The company now has the ability to remotely suspend the licenses, essentially erasing the software from its machinery and rendering the devices useless. The ruling military … Court documents show that police used Cellebrite technology to collect data from the reporters’ phones. The intermediaries often cloak their intentions behind business registrations for education, construction or technology companies, even as they post photographs on social media of foreign weaponry or signing ceremonies with generals. Often, they depended on military-linked brokers who thrive in the shadowy interstices, allowing the Tatmadaw to acquire the tools of oppression indirectly from foreign companies. He would not answer questions about what products the company resells, saying there were too many to remember. Numerous countries have condemned the military takeover. The Myanmar military on Monday announced the appointment of 11 new ministers, including U Wunna Maung Lwin as the country's new foreign minister. The technology was presented as central to the 2018 trial of two Reuters reporters who uncovered evidence of a Rohingya massacre the year before. Ms Suu Kyi's international reputation has suffered greatly as a result of Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya minority. Myanmar Press Council Members Resign Over Military Directives Arrests, orders issued to news outlets and draft cyber law cited as reasons for mass walkout by Myanmar Press Council Documents released under freedom of information laws have revealed new details about Australia's controversial program of defence cooperation with Myanmar's military. “Coups have no place in our modern world”, Mr. Guterres said in a pre-recorded video address at the Council’s 46th regular session, his comments coming after the forum held a special session on 12 February, in which it adopted a resolution expressing deep concern at the junta’s move. Mr. Khin Maung Zaw, the human rights lawyer, said that the police again presented Cellebrite evidence in trials he worked on in 2019 and 2020. During a half century of military rule, Myanmar’s totalitarian tools were crude but effective. She spent nearly 15 years in detention between 1989 and 2010, after organising rallies calling for democratic reform and free elections. The ruling military changed the country's name from Burma to Myanmar in 1989. Beginning in 2016, the Tatmadaw handed some authority to a civilian government led by Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, which won two landslide electoral mandates. Ye Aung Thu/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images. The election commission said there was no evidence to support these claims. Elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party are among hundreds of people detained. What happens when a virus mutates? VideoTiger Woods: Car crashes and comebacks, Stunning images from Nasa's Perseverance rover, How a nine-year-old fought an oil company and won, The women using art to explain Covid-19 science. A list of successful recent tenders from the Ministry of Home Affairs includes MySpace International, and the company’s website had the Ministry of Defense among its clients. Ms Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest and has appeared in court via video-link, has been charged with possessing illegal walkie-talkies, violating Covid-19 restrictions during last year's election campaign and publishing information that may "cause fear or alarm". VideoWhat happens when a virus mutates? A spokeswoman for the company said that Cellebrite stopped selling to Myanmar in 2018 and that BlackBag had not sold to the country since it was acquired last year. International arms embargoes prohibit such systems from being exported to Myanmar. The military has imposed restrictions, including curfews and limits to gatherings. “But the problem is we don’t know what kind of technological devices these would be because we lack knowledge of the technology.”. Myanmar’s Military Deploys Digital Arsenal of Repression in Crackdown. A closed-circuit surveillance camera atop a building in Yangon. One of the most prominent surveillance technology middlemen in Myanmar is Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Htun, a Myanmar national who studied at a Russian university and Myanmar’s Defense Services Technological Academy, the military’s elite training ground. Mr. Khin Maung Zaw represented the two journalists. The biggest city is Yangon (Rangoon), but the capital is Nay Pyi Taw. The Myanmar Army maintains the second largest active force in Southeast Asia after the People's Army of Vietnam. By Hannah Beech. Two parliamentary budget committee members, who requested anonymity given the sensitive political climate, said these proposed budgets for the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Transport and Communications reflected actual purchases. “Myanmar’s military is very closed, and Israel is very closed,” said Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher with the arms and military expenditure program at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Since Myanmar emerged as an independent nation in 1948, the army has staged three coups to secure its firm hold on political and economic power. Myanmar considers them illegal immigrants and denies them citizenship. Can Asia help Myanmar find a way out of coup crisis? On his first foreign trip since Covid, Pope Francis urges a more prominent role for Iraq's Christians. Myanmar military appoints new captains of economy. On the opening day of a new UN Human Rights Council session on Monday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated his “full support to the people of Myanmar”, three weeks after the military takeover that has brought thousands out onto the streets in protest. ASEAN set for talks with Myanmar military as crisis escalates. China to tighten grip on Hong Kong elections, UN 'yet to see proof' Princess Latifa is alive, Tiger Woods: Car crashes and comebacks. Security forces have used water cannon, rubber bullets and live ammunition to try to disperse protesters. An armored vehicle believed to be made by Gaia Automotive Industries, an Israeli manufacturer, rolling through Naypyidaw in February. Hundreds of pages of Myanmar government budgets for the last two fiscal years viewed by The New York Times show a voracious appetite for the latest in military-grade surveillance technology. The US and UK have responded with sanctions on military officials. Despite the export ban, Israeli defense technology continues to turn up in unexpected places. Quiz of the week: What do you recall of the Golden Globes? In Myanmar, the latest budget also included MacQuisition forensic software designed to extract and collect data from Apple computers. The data helped convict the reporters, in what human rights groups have said were politically motivated cases. Myanmar’s military stages coup d’etat: Live news. Ms Suu Kyi appeared before the International Court of Justice in 2019, where she denied allegations that the military had committed genocide. The budgets detail companies and the functionality of their tools. But critics say a ruthless armed forces, which maintained a dominance over the economy and powerful ministries even as it briefly shared power with a civilian government, used the facade of democracy to enable sensitive cybersecurity and defense purchases. Myanmar woke to the news on Monday that the military was seizing control of the country. In some instances, they specify the proposed uses, like combating “money laundering” or investigating “cybercrime.”, “What you see the Myanmar military putting together is a comprehensive suite of cybersecurity and forensics,” said Ian Foxley, a researcher at the Center for Applied Human Rights at the University of York. “Today, I call on the Myanmar military to stop the repression immediately”, the UN chief continued. Shlomi Shraga, the head of Gaia Automotive, said that he had not seen any photos of the company’s vehicles cruising through the Myanmar capital during the coup. But use of "Myanmar" has become increasingly common, and in 2016 Ms Suu Kyi said it did not matter which name was used. The Myanmar military filed two new criminal charges Monday against detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, on the one-month anniversary of … Over decades, many have fled the country to escape persecution. Myanmar’s security forces have triangulated between their critics’ social media posts and internet hookup addresses to find where some of them live. “Let’s hope that the people of Myanmar live in peace and under a democratic regime,” Mr. Shraga said. “Even under a civilian government, there was little oversight of the military’s expenditure for surveillance technology,” said Ko Nay Yan Oo, a former fellow at the Pacific Forum of the Center for Strategic and International Studies who has studied the Myanmar military. Many other NLD officials have also been detained. Explore more on Myanmar Military. He has received international condemnation and sanctions for his alleged role in the military's attacks on ethnic minorities. Both companies also make other sophisticated tools to infiltrate locked or encrypted devices and suck out their data, including location-tracking information. Video, Celebrating the world's largest female afro, 'Liberating' to be able to speak - Meghan, Silverman apologises to Hilton for prison jokes, 'Hovering ship' photographed off Cornish coast, World's 'oldest wild bird' has chick at age of 70, ‘Stop whining’ over Covid, Brazil’s president says, Meghan accuses palace of 'perpetuating falsehoods', The general who returned Myanmar to military rule, Myanmar's democracy icon who fell from grace. Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Htun’s wife is the daughter of a high-ranking Tatmadaw officer who served as ambassador to Russia. The experts, including Mr. Wezeman and a person familiar with Myanmar’s defense procurements, said the vehicles used in the coup featured Gaia’s distinctive hood handles, air inlets and headlight settings. Why is Myanmar also known as Burma? It neighbours Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh, China and India. The embargo extends to spare parts. While some imported surveillance equipment is considered dual-use, other technology is clearly meant for military purposes. Despite inching toward democracy, the military maintained significant control over spending, particularly for defense, law enforcement and other security affairs. He has long wielded significant political influence, successfully maintaining the power of the Tatmadaw - Myanmar's military - even as the country moved towards democracy. Hardware that was sold to the police to catch criminals is being used to track opponents of the coup online and offline. Many of the top employees at MySpace International and other firms he founded share the same educational pedigree. The website also had a section on digital forensic technology that cited MSAB, BlackBag and Cellebrite among its “main suppliers,” with extensive descriptions of each firm’s offerings. “A lot of this is electronic warfare capability stuff.”. It seized control on 1 February following a general election which Ms Suu Kyi's NLD party won by a landslide. Home / World News / Myanmar’s deadliest day since military coup leaves at least 18 dead A wounded protester is carried during a protest against the military coup in Mandalay, Myanmar… “Now we are under military rule, and they can do everything they want.”. The shutdowns imposed over the past three nights prevent users from utilising tools like VPNs to … The software is made by BlackBag Technologies, an American company that was bought last year by Cellebrite of Israel. He stressed that all his exports had the requisite licenses from Israel’s Ministry of Defense. “We are not a big company,” said Ko Tet Toe Lynn, the assistant general manager for MySpace International. In others, they continued to sell dual-use technology without conducting due diligence about how it might be used and who might use it. In court documents, the police said they had gathered data from the detained reporters’ phones using Cellebrite forensic technology. Calls for Suu Kyi release after Myanmar army coup, Aung San Suu Kyi: Democracy icon who fell from grace, How a peace icon ended up at a genocide trial, What you need to know about the Rohingya crisis, Pope lands in Iraq amid virus and security risks. Tiger Woods: Car crashes and comebacks. The documents, provided by Justice For Myanmar, catalog tens of millions of dollars earmarked for technology that can mine phones and computers, as well as track people’s live locations and listen in to their conversations. The generals who staged a coup last month use surveillance drones, iPhone cracking devices and hacking software, some of it from Western countries that bar sales of such technology to Myanmar. The Israeli firm did not say who its reseller in Myanmar was. The vehicles did not go into mass production until after the Israeli ban on military exports. A plainclothes police officer taking a photo of journalist and protesters in Yangon. The day after The Times posed extensive questions about the relationship between MySpace International and Cellebrite, the entire MySpace International website was taken down. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest. The Myanmar Army is the largest branch of the Armed Forces (Tatmadaw) of Myanmar (Burma) and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. Such detective work could only have been carried out by using specialized foreign technology, according to experts with knowledge of Myanmar’s surveillance infrastructure. Those systems are usually designed for use by militaries and police forces, and many international export bans include such technology. He said the military was on the side of the people and would form a "true and disciplined democracy". But international embargoes and dual-use bans still hold tech firms liable for the end users of their products, even if resellers make the deals. Some of these “dual-use” technologies, tools of both legitimate law enforcement and repression, are being deployed by the Tatmadaw, as the Myanmar military is known, to target opponents of the Feb. 1 coup — a practice that echoes actions taken against critics by China, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and other governments. The two words mean the same thing but Myanmar is the more formal version. Cellebrite said that neither it nor BlackBag was “affiliated” with four of Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Htun’s companies, including MySpace International. Read about our approach to external linking. Cellebrite hardware and software have been used by the police to secure evidence in court cases, according to U Khin Maung Zaw, one of Myanmar’s top human-rights lawyers who is representing Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, the ousted civilian leader. Mass protests have been taking place across Myanmar since the military seized control on 1 February. A group of people leaving their neighborhood to join protests in Yangon in February. Celebrating the world's largest female afro. Other systems, such as spyware, were sold as integral to modernizing law enforcement agencies. Myanmar's powerful military has taken control of the country in a coup and declared a state of emergency, following the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi … After declaring a state of emergency on February 1, the Tatmadaw (military) has announced a list of key ministers in its newly formed government, including those who will spearhead the economy over the next year. Myanmar: How the military is using internet shutdowns to silence protesters. “In the extremely rare case when our technology is used in a manner that does not meet international law or does not comply with Cellebrite’s values, we immediately flag these licenses for nonrenewal and do not provide software updates,” the spokeswoman said. Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the Tatmadaw chief who led the coup last month, visited Elbit’s offices during a 2015 trip to Israel. UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has called on the leaders of Myanmar's military … Myanmar, also known as Burma, became independent from Britain in 1948. The documents indicate that dual-use surveillance technology made by Israeli, American and European companies made its way to Myanmar, despite many of their home governments banning such exports after the military’s brutal expulsion of Rohingya Muslims in 2017. In many instances, governments do not buy military-grade technology directly from the companies that make them but instead go through middlemen. By 2018, Israel had essentially blocked military exports to Myanmar, after it emerged that Israeli weaponry was being sold to an army accused of genocidal actions against the Rohingya ethnic minority. In his first public comments after the coup, Gen Hlaing sought to justify the takeover. The Month Since Myanmar's Military Coup More FILE PHOTO: People join a rally against the military coup to demand the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in Yangon, Myanmar… Myanmar's military chief has threatened to crack down on any media outlets if they continue to use the word 'coup' to describe what his armed forced have done.Thats according to reports by military-run broadcaster, Myawaddy News on Monday evening who quoted General Min Aung Hlaing saying they "will take action and withdraw licenses from the media if they use the word 'coup' government. On Friday, Myanmar's ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, received an ovation from the U.N. General Assembly after he made an emotional request for help restoring democracy on behalf of the country's elected government that was overthrown in a military coup earlier this month. Myanmar's former de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in a post-military coup hearing, facing two new charges. On Feb. 1, the day of the coup, military experts were surprised to see armored vehicles made by Gaia Automotive Industries, an Israeli manufacturer, rolling through Naypyidaw, the capital. “The military is now using those very tools to brutally crack down on peaceful protesters risking their lives to resist the military junta and restore democracy,” said Ma Yadanar Maung, a spokeswoman for Justice For Myanmar, a group that monitors the Tatmadaw’s abuses. “We ordered the spare parts from the Israeli company called Elbit because they have good quality and Elbit is well-known,” Mr. Kyi Thar said. “The cybersecurity department is still using that technology,” Mr. Khin Maung Zaw said. The generals, who staged a coup a month ago, are now back in charge with a far more sophisticated arsenal at their disposal: Israeli-made surveillance drones, European iPhone cracking devices and American software that can hack into computers and vacuum up their contents. The coup took place as a new session of parliament was set to open. Myanmar's United Nations Ambassador has pleaded for immediate international action to help overturn the country's military coup. Meanwhile, the Catholic bishops of Myanmar have appealed to the military urging restraint on the streets and to return to dialogue to resolve the crisis. Under the cabinet reshuffle, besides the new appointment, 24 deputy ministers were removed from their posts, the military said in a statement. U Thein Tan, another member of the parliamentary budget committee, said that fellow lawmakers felt uncomfortable with all the spyware in the budgets but that questioning anything to do with the security services was taboo for civilian politicians. Military commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing has taken power. The two people with knowledge of police procurements said that Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Htun’s companies supply most of the imported Western surveillance technology for the Myanmar police. MySpace International is listed on the website of a Czech defense and laboratory equipment maker as a “partner.”. The New York Times. She is named as the Myanmar agent for a Russian stun gun maker. Two years later, Myanmar Future Science, a company that calls itself an educational and teaching aid supplier, signed paperwork reviewed by The Times agreeing to service military-grade surveillance drones made by Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms manufacturer. Aung San Suu Kyi became world-famous in the 1990s for campaigning to restore democracy. Read about our approach to external linking. Pope Francis on Wednesday urged Myanmar's military authorities to prioritise dialogue over repression. U Win Shein has been elected Union Minister of Planning, Finance, and Industry, while U Aung Naing Oo is now Minister for … Published March 1, 2021 Updated March 2, 2021; During a half century of military rule, Myanmar’s totalitarian tools … New York cinemas reopen but will people come? The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Middlemen can give Western companies distance from dealing face-to-face with dictators. The military is now back in charge and has declared a year-long state of emergency. One particularly large section of the budget allocations covers the latest ware for phone-cracking and computer-hacking. Even in countries that didn’t officially block such trade, many Western purveyors had clauses in their corporate guidelines barring their technology from being used to abuse human rights. Men in sarongs shadowed democracy activists, neighbors informed on each other and thugs brandished lead pipes.
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