this is the second personal story of four high profile prisoners of conscience held by the repressive military regime of myanmar also known as burma...u win tin, 77, has already spent the past 18 years in jail on account of his peaceful opposition to the myanmar military authorities and his acts in defence of human rights and freedom of expression...he is myanmar's longest serving prisoner of conscience...
a journalist, former editor and senior opposition party official, u win tin was arrested in july 1989 in a crackdown on political party members...he is believed to have been arrested because of his senior position with the national league for democracy (nld), the main opposition party in myanmar, which won 82% of seats in general elections in 1990, but to whom the military authorities did not hand over power...
detained since 1989, u win tin has been sentenced three times to a total of 20 years' imprisonment...u win tin was most recently sentenced in march 1996 to seven years' imprisonment for communicating with the united nations while in jail about prison conditions and for writing and circulating articles in prison...authorities characterized this as "secretly publishing propaganda to incite riots in jail,"...
the letter to the united nations was reported to have been titled "The testimonials of prisoners of conscience from Insein Prison who have been Unjustly Imprisoned, Demands and Requests regarding Human Rights Violations in Burma" and detailed a lack of medical treatment and torture in prison...while authorities investigated the incident, u win tin and others were ill-treated...he was held in a cell designed for military dogs, without bedding and deprived of food and water and family visits for long periods...
u win tin has suffered from spondylitis and heart disease in prison...his health is believed to have suffered under the poor conditions in which he has been held...he has also spent much of his imprisonment in solitary confinement...
in july 2005, the authorities were reported to have told u win tin that he would be released with more than 200 political prisoners, but then returned him to his prison cell...
he is held in insein prison in yangon, myanmar's main city...his sentence expires in july 2009, but he is already eligible for release with time off for good behaviour...
there - so now you know...
take action now: release all prisoners of conscience and all individuals detained under the crackdown...
tomorrow - the story of u khun htun oo...
peace out <3
No comments:
Post a Comment