Telenor faces lawsuit for giving Myanmar junta buyer information | EUROtoday

Telenor is dealing with a category motion lawsuit in Norway over the actions of its subsidiary in Myanmar.

The case alleges that Telenor Myanmar handed cellphone information of greater than 1,200 individuals to the nation’s army junta following the 2021 coup.

The firm, which is 54% owned by Norway’s authorities, has since withdrawn from Myanmar as inner battle intensified within the aftermath of the removing of a extra civilian-led authorities below Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi that briefly dominated the troubled the nation.

What wrongdoing is Telenor accused of?

The class motion lawsuit, filed by a Swedish non-profit referred to as the Justice and Accountability Initiative, alleges that the corporate endangered prospects by passing info on to the army authorities.

Among different issues, it alleges that the information led to the 2022 execution of a outstanding authorities opponent and lawmaker, Phyo Zeya Thaw, and the arrest and jailing of civil society activist Aung Thu.

The lawsuit claims Telenor is accountable for €9,000 (roughly $10,500) ​per buyer whose information was shared.

“If successful, this case would be the first ever to hold a telecoms company to account for not sufficiently protecting user data from ​access by an authoritarian regime,” mentioned Beini Ye, authorized counsel on the Open Society Justice Initiative, which is supporting ​the case.

How did the corporate reply?

Telenor was first knowledgeable that the lawsuit was being ready final October, and mentioned on the time that it had been “legally required to provide traffic data to the authorities.”

It mentioned in a press release to information businesses Reuters and AFP on Wednesday that non-compliance may have led to “imprisonment, torture or the death penalty,” for its subsidiary’s native workers.

“Telenor Myanmar was operating on the ground in a war zone,” it mentioned. “Telenor Myanmar had no real options. We could not play Russian roulette with the lives of our employees.”

The firm mentioned that it might be “terrible if data from Telenor had been misused by the authorities,” nevertheless it additionally mentioned that Myanmar’s junta bore sole accountability for its remedy of its residents and “neither Telenor nor any other civilian organization has that responsibility.”

When was Telenor lively in Myanmar?

Telenor gained a young course of in 2013, quickly after the army agreed to the formation of a semi-democratic political system. It began working in Myanmar in 2014 and had greater than 18 million prospects by 2021.

But in January 2021, quickly after elections, the still-influential army reclaimed complete management in a coup, with civil unrest and state repression following quickly after.

In June of 2021, with the battle intensifying, Telenor introduced its intentions to promote its subsidiary; it accomplished its exit by March 2022.

The lawsuit alleges that the discharge of information whereas Telenor was nonetheless in management led to abuses earlier than and after the Norwegian firm’s exit.

Aung Thu, a civil society activist arrested in September 2021, informed Reuters his info was among the many information allegedly shared.

“I am hoping for justice, not just for myself, but for all the people of Myanmar,” he mentioned.

Phyo Zeya Thaw, a preferred hip hop singer who was a lawmaker within the civilian authorities, was hanged in 2022 together with three different activists accused of serving to perform acts of terrorirsm. The lawsuit alleges that Telenor had shared his cellphone information earlier.

“It is not just a wife losing her husband,” his spouse Tha Zin mentioned in a press release. “It is also a loss to democracy.”

Edited by: Kieran Burke