BurmaNet News, October 17, 2006

[Editor]

October 17, 2006 Issue # 3067

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Young activist dies in prison
Mizzima: 270,000 signatures collected demanding release of student leaders
Irrawaddy: Junta pressures political groups
Irrawaddy: Junta reigns in Mandalay writers
DVB: Magwe Division’s public gives their support to freedom campaign

BUSINESS / TRADE
AFP: Myanmar to privatize its biggest gold mine
VOA News: Burma removed from list of money-laundering nations

REGIONAL
Bangkok Post: PM leaves Burma off travel plans
Myanmar Times: Myanmar, East Timor establish relations

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: UN should call for Security Council Action on Karen, says Pinheiro

AP: Human rights groups decry death of political prisoner in Myanmar

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Burmese gulag claims another victim

PRESS RELEASE
ABSFU: Student Leader Thet Win Aung dies in Mandalay prison

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 17, Irrawaddy
Young activist dies in prison - Aung Lwin Oo

Student activist and political prisoner Thet Win Aung died on Monday from
several untreated diseases while serving a 59-year term in Mandalay prison
in central Burma, his family said.

“We were informed by officials from the police special branch yesterday
evening,” Win Maung, father of the activist told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
“We suffered from the arrest of his brother recently and now this terrible
news makes us felt very heartbroken,” the father said, referring to the
recent detention of the victim’s brother Pyone Cho, who was arrested in
late September with four other activists from the 88 Generation Students
group.

Friends and family arrived in Mandalay on Tuesday, and Thet Win Aung’s
parents requested the release of his body for a family burial in Rangoon
and the release of Pyone Cho so that he could attend. Officials refused
both requests.

Thet Win Aung was arrested in October 1998 and sentenced to 52 years under
the Emergency Provision Act 5 (j) and 17(1-2) of the Unlawful Associations
Act. The sentence was later extended by 7 years. At the time, his sentence
was the longest ever handed down to a political prisoner in Burma.

Prior to his transfer to Mandalay prison, Thet Win Aung served his
sentence in Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison, as well as prisons in
Khamti and Kalay in Sagaing division, where malaria and other diseases are
rampant. He had suffered from several health problems, including heart
disease, partial paralysis and malaria.

The father said official medical records show that Thet Win Aung died from
heart failure and a swollen liver, but that his son was showing signs of
improved health when they last met on September 27. “He might have
suffered more after hearing the news of his brother’s arrest,” the father
said. Thet Win Aung had not been receiving any medical treatment for any
of his health problems.

The death of the 34-year-old activist stirred anger at home and abroad.
“It is tragic that an innocent life has been lost, and it shows the
current conditions among political prisoners in the country,” said Jimmy,
a leading member of the 88 Generation Students group.

Currently, no independent body has access to monitor conditions of Burma’s
prisons. The International Committee of the Red Cross has suspended
regular visits to Burma’s prisons following the junta-backed Union
Solidarity Development Association’s insistence on accompanying relief
agency representatives.

The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)
called the incident “murderous.” “He wasn’t yet 30 when he received a
nearly 60-year sentence, and with frequent back and forth transfers from
one prison to another, it appears that officials were attempting to murder
him,” said Tate Naing, secretary of AAPP.

With the death of Thet Win Aung, the number of deaths in custody of the
country’s political prisoners stands at 130 since 1988, according to the
AAPP.

“We believe that physical and psychological torture inflicted upon his
body by his captors shall be the main reason of his untimely death,” said
Aung Din, a former political prisoner and policy director of the
Washington-based US Campaign for Burma.

Issuing a statement from London on Monday, Amnesty International, which
has been campaigning for the release of Thet Win Aung, said that it is
“deeply concerned by the death in Mandalay prison today of the student
leader and prisoner of conscience.”

The funeral service is to be held at Kyarnikan cemetery in Mandalay on
Tuesday evening. Thet Win Aung is survived by his father Win Maung, mother
Mya Mya Win and five brothers.

____________________________________

October 17, Mizzima News
270,000 signatures collected demanding release of student leaders - Ngun te

A massive 270,000 signatures have been garnered throughout Burma demanding
the release of five student leaders detained last month, according to a
campaigner.

"We collected 270,000 signatures till yesterday evening," said Jimmy to
Mizzima.

"Signatures have been collected not only of people from cities and towns
but also from villages and remote areas right across Burma," Jimmy added.

The first ever and biggest petition campaign in Burma’s recent history
kicked off on October 2 demanding the release of five key leaders of the
1988 uprising ---Min Ko Naing, Min Zeya, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kywe and Pyone
Cho, the Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Shan ethnic leader Hkun Tun
Oo and other political leaders.

"This is to test the will of the government and allow the opposition to
gain momentum," said Bo Bo Kyaw Nyein, a political commentator based in
the US.

The military junta said later that the student leaders were brought in for
questioning "in order to prevent internal unrest, instability and
terrorism."

The 88 generation rejected the junta's accusation demanded the release of
the five detained student leaders and kick-starting of a dialogue to begin
the process of national reconciliation.

The 88 generation students are arranging to hold the 44th birthday of Min
Ko Naing, which they call "Silent Birthday" tomorrow at the home of Min Ko
Naing's parents.

Meanwhile, a group of about 40 people, comprising members of the National
League for Democracy and 88 generation students freed 45 sparrows
yesterday in a prayer ceremony for the freedom of Min Ko Naing.

____________________________________

October 17, Irrawaddy
Junta pressures political groups - Shah Paung

Burma’s military government on Tuesday stepped up pressure on opposition
political groups by saying that their activities were an attempt to
disrupt the peace and stability of the country, according to state-run
daily newspaper Myanma Alin.

The report two principal groups—the opposition party National League for
Democracy, and the 88 Generation Students group—as the primarily culprits.
It also carried criticism of the latter organization for its recent
signature campaign in support of Min Ko Naing and four other leaders from
the group who were detained last month.

The group has reportedly collected more than 200,000 signatures since the
campaign began on October 2, and will continue to circulate petitions
until October 31.

A leading member of the 88 Generation Students group dismissed the
government’s latest criticism. “We have no response to such accusations,”
the leader, known as Jimmy, said. “We are simply doing what we have to
do.”

Burmese authorities on Monday interrupted a religious ceremony convened by
members of the defunct Democracy and Peace Party, according to former
Executive Committee member Amyotheryei Win Naing.

Officials, along with three members of the junta-backed Union Solidarity
and Development Association, questioned attendees of the ceremony, held at
a monastery in North Okklapa township in Rangoon, and which included
several opposition leaders and activists.

Officials attempted unsuccessfully to stop the ceremony on the grounds
that it was political in nature. In 1991, Burma’s ruling junta disbanded
the DPP and prohibited its former members from engaging in any political
activities.

Amyotheryei Win Naing complained that the military government does not
allow anyone to engage in opposition political activities—even legal or
formerly acknowledged parties. “This is the only way for political parties
to gather,” he said. “So if they are not allowed to do this, it will lead
to problems.”

Other groups have had to resort to increasingly creative methods for
gathering together. On October 12, Aye Thar Aung, secretary of the
Committee Representing the People’s Parliament, celebrated his 61st
birthday with a gathering at Sasana Theikpan monastery in the Bahan
township of Rangoon. His actual birthday falls on December 12.

About 400 guests, including veteran politicians and 88 Generation members,
attended the event. But authorities questioned monks at the monastery
about the event, which coincided with the anniversary of the founding of
the Rakhine (Arakan) Democracy League. A report of the gathering appeared
in state-run The New Light of Myanmar the following day, under the title
“Unusual birthday celebrated.”

Aye Thar Aung explained that he celebrates his birthday the same way each
year, though normally in his home. This year there was not enough room to
accommodate all his guests, so the monastery was chosen as a more suitable
location.

While junta leaders continue to crack down on dissenting political groups,
activists and student leaders look for alternative ways to conduct their
activities. “The political parties exist to do political activities,”
Amyotheryei Win Naing explained. “In order to continue their work, they
find new ways, including participating in social work.”

____________________________________

October 17, Irrawaddy
Junta reigns in Mandalay writers - Yeni

Birthday organizers for Burma’s most revered female literary figure, Ludu
Daw Amar, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the prospects for holding the
celebration on November 29 in Mandalay were “tremendously faint.”

Ludu Daw Amar, a renowned female journalist and writer, turned 91 this year.

Each year, Burmese writers, poets, artists and admirers from across the
country come to Taung Lay Lone monastery on the shores of Taungthaman Lake
in Amarapura, a small town south of Mandalay, to pay tribute to Ludu Daw
Amar by offering poems, paintings and other tokens of their esteem.

“These days, the authorities keep a close watch on literary movements
here,” said one Mandalay-based writer who requested anonymity. He added
that several recent memorial gatherings for deceased writers such as the
poet Maung Chaw New and novelist Khin Hnin Yu had been banned.

Last year, about 800 people—including Min Ko Naing and others from Burma’s
political and literary circles—met in Tuang Lay Lone monastery to honor
Ludu Daw Amar.

“The authorities are very scared that these gatherings will turn into a
political movement,” a senior researcher in Mandalay said. “As a result,
the pressure and surveillance have increased on the abbot [of the
monastery].”

Last month, statues of two leading social figures displayed in the
monastery—the celebrated Mandalay University professor and historian Than
Tun, and Tun Wai, a famous film actor and vocal supporter of detained
democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi—were demolished, according to sources.

“Both sculptures were made in the modern style,” a Mandalay-based artist
said, adding that the Sangha Maha Nayaka (the regime-appointed supervisory
religious body) pressured the abbot at Taung Lay Lone to remove the
sculptures because they were “incompatible with the Burmese tradition of
Buddhism.”

Authors and artists in Mandalay now worry that other memorials to Burma’s
leading literary and artistic figures displayed in the monastery compound
will be in danger.

The abbot of Taung Lone Lay could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

____________________________________

October 16, Democratic Voice of Burma
Magwe Division’s public gives their support to freedom campaign

The people of Magwe Division have also been giving their moral support and
signatures to the ‘White Expression’ and signature campaigns demanding the
release of all political prisoners and the kick-start to the national
reconciliation process.

A local National League for Democracy (NLD) youth activist Nay Myo Kyaw
from Saku told DVB that the petition forms arrived late to the region due
to heavy rains but between 500 and 1000 signatures have been collected
within recent days without much persuasion.

Local people, especially youths and students are increasing wearing white
shirts to show their support for the White Expression Campaign, added Nay
Myo Kyaw.

“Before, at the weddings, people tended to wear fashionable ‘aingyis’
(shirts/blouses) of the latest designs, but the majority of the people are
now starting to wear white at wedding ceremonies. As they are of the
majority, I think they deliberately chose it.”

At Myothit Township, the local people are also starting to wear white
T-shirts and giving their signatures as they feel that they are something
they could do, the township NLD organising committee members. Local
residents at nearby Natmauk, the birthplace of Burma’s national hero Gen.
Aung San, the late father of detained NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, also
told DVB that the campaigns are also going well there.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 17, Agence France Presse
Myanmar to privatize its biggest gold mine

Military-ruled Myanmar announced Tuesday that it will privatize at least
part of its biggest gold mine, inviting proposals for investments starting
at two million dollars.

The announcement in the official Myanmar-language Mirror newspaper said
the government would privatize the Kyaukpahto gold mine in the central
division of Sagaing, but provided no details on the sale. The mine is
currently operated by the government's No. 2 Mining Enterprise, which said
it will accept investment proposals through November 10.An official at No.
2 Mining Enterprise declined to say if the entire mine, or just a portion
would be privatized. She also declined to estimate how much the government
hoped to earn from the sale.

"It's the first-ever privatization in gold mining," she said, although the
enterprise already operates several joint ventures with local companies.

"We are not sure whether foreigners can invest. Any local company can
submit a tender if they are interested. The board will decide," she said
by telephone from the new administrative capital Nay Pyi Taw.

Kyaukpahto is an open-pit mine, but in a 2002 study, the US Geological
Survey said that the conditions there were poor and work was hampered by a
lack of equipment.

The mine's production quota was estimated at less than 25 kilograms a
month, the study said.

Myanmar military government said in late June that it would sell a 49
percent stake in 11 factories in Yangon, Mandalay and Magway, as the
government tries to raise much-needed cash.

The current junta has taken steps to liberalize the economy since it took
power after crushing a pro-democracy uprising in 1988.The previous
military dictatorship had spent decades following the "Burmese way to
socialism", which ruined what had been one of the most promising economies
in Southeast Asia.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962.The US and European
Union have imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar over human rights abuses
and the military's failure to deliver on promised democratic reforms.

The UN Security Council held discussions on Myanmar in late September,
with the United States pressing to bring a resolution to try to force the
junta to reform.

Myanmar's neighbors like China, India and Thailand have been increasing
their trade with Myanmar, mainly to tap the country's natural gas reserves
to fuel their own growing economies.

____________________________________

October 14, VOA News
Burma removed from list of money-laundering nations

An international financial watchdog has removed Burma from a list of
nations that do not cooperate in the global fight against money
laundering.

The Financial Action Task Force made the announcement on Friday.

Twenty-three countries were listed in 2001 as non-cooperative.
Military-ruled Burma had been the last remaining nation on the list.

Earlier this year, the European Union criticized Burma's efforts to end
money laundering, calling them insufficient.

The G 8 world's seven leading industrial countries and Russia founded the
Financial Action Task Force in 1989. It develops policies to help
governments fight money laundering and terrorist-financing.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 17, Bangkok Post
PM leaves Burma off travel plans

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont's decision to take Burma off his
immediate travel itinerary may underline his diplomatic caution towards
Thailand's next-door neighbour.

With a trip to Malaysia tomorrow, Gen Surayud will complete his visits to
all of Thailand's immediate neighbours except Burma. The new prime
minister went to Laos on Saturday, followed by Cambodia the next day.

Gen Surayud will travel to the Philippines on Monday and officials are
arranging a trip to Indonesia, which could take place on Saturday. His
visit to Vietnam will probably be scheduled for Oct 26.

That would leave Burma, Singapore and Brunei as neighbouring countries not
on his itinerary.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Kitti Wasinondh yesterday cited Gen Surayud's
tight schedule which made him unable to visit all Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (Asean) leaders in a short period of time.

However, the prime minister will meet the rest of the Asean leaders on the
sidelines of a summit on the anniversary of 15 years of cooperation
between Asean and China in Nanning set for Oct 30-31, the spokesman said.

Another Foreign Ministry official explained that there was no other
reasons for Gen Surayud's decision not to visit Rangoon now. He would
visit all Thailand's neighbours and there was no plan to drop Burma from
his list of countries to be visited, the official added.

Gen Surayud had paid a visit to Rangoon during his tenure as army
commander-in-chief between 1998-2002. However, the Thai-Burmese border
situation became tense after Gen Surayud decided to take tough measures
against Rangoon-backed Wa forces in an attempt to clamp down on
cross-border drug trafficking.

Sources close to Gen Surayud said, however, that the prime minister was
adopting a wait-and-see stance on Thailand's relations with Burma.

He did not want to rush to Burma soon after taking office as the new
government leader on Oct 1, the sources said.

As for Singapore and Brunei, they would have to wait because of Gen
Surayud's tight schedule, they added.

His meeting with Burmese Prime Minister Soe Win in China at the end of
this month would be an indicator of Thai-Burmese relations in the future,
the sources said. "The prime minister wants to see Burma's reaction to his
premiership," one of them said.

However, Gen Surayud has made it clear that he will visit all Asean
countries during his one-year tenure, they added.

The prime minister was also concerned that Singapore might have some
misunderstanding about the Thai military's decision to oust the government
of Thaksin Shinawatra on Sept 19, said the sources.

Gen Surayud will explain to the Singapore government that the military
move against Mr Thaksin had nothing to do with the former premier's
business deals with Temasek Holdings, Singapore's investment arm, which
took over Shin Corp from the Shinawatra and Damapong families in January
this year.

____________________________________

October 9-15, Myanmar Times
Myanmar, East Timor establish relations - Thet Khaing

Myanmar and East Timor established diplomatic relations late last month,
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced September 29.

The agreement to establish diplomatic ties was signed by Foreign Minister
U Nyan Win and his East Timorese counterpart Mr Jose Luis Guterres
September 26 in New York, on the sidelines of the annual United Nations
General Assembly meeting.

East Timor, which became independent in 2003 after more than two decades
of Indonesian rule, is seeking to join the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) in next three years.

One of the preconditions for joining ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member,
is to establish embassies in all of the regional grouping’s member
countries.
East Timor currently maintains embassies in only two ASEAN countries,
Indonesia and Malaysia.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 17, Irrawaddy
UN should call for Security Council Action on Karen, says Pinheiro - Clive
Parker

Paolo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma,
is set to recommend that the UN General Assembly consider calling on the
Security Council to act on the continuing conflict in Karen State.

In a report to the 192 members of the General Assembly, which may be
delivered as soon as this Friday, according to a provisional UN schedule,
Pinheiro will recommend: “That the General Assembly consider calling on
the Security Council to respond to the situation of armed conflict in
eastern Myanmar [Burma] where civilians are being targeted and where
humanitarian assistance to civilians is being deliberately obstructed,”
says a printed version of the report released in New York on Monday.

The special rapporteur, who has not been permitted into Burma for nearly
three years, also calls for the Burmese authorities to allow humanitarian
workers into Karen State.

This year, the area has seen the heaviest fighting for nearly a decade,
resulting in the displacement of 20,000 people, some of which have fled to
Thailand. Clashes in the area remain sporadic, reports say. Instances of
killings, torture, rape, the destruction of villages and forced labor have
been widely documented.

Pinhiero also recommends that the General Assembly, with other relevant UN
bodies, consult with the junta “to explore ways and means of deploying a
fact-finding mission comprising representatives from relevant United
Nations agencies to look into the humanitarian and human rights
implications” of the conflict in Karen State. The Burmese government
should allow such access and guarantee the safety of humanitarian workers,
he adds.

The new report marks Pinheiro’s most explicit recommendations to the UN
General Assembly on Security Council intervention in Burma since he was
appointed special rapporteur on the country six years ago.

The report covers a number of other issues, many of which Pinheiro
reported to the new Human Rights Council in Geneva last month, including
harassment of the political opposition and a lack of a genuine mechanism
for democratic transition in Burma.

____________________________________

October 17, Associated Press
Human rights groups decry death of political prisoner in Myanmar

Thet Win Aung, who was sentenced to 59 years' imprisonment after
protesting for educational reform, has died in a central Myanmar jail,
human rights groups said Tuesday.

London-based rights group Amnesty International called on Myanmar
authorities to launch an independent investigation into his death Monday,
while another human rights group said it believed the ailing prisoner had
been "systematically killed by the military regime." There was no
immediate comment available from the Myanmar government, which is said by
human rights groups and the United Nations to hold more than 1,100
political prisoners under inadequate and brutal conditions.

Thet Win Aung, 34, had been in prison since 1998 for organizing small,
peaceful demonstrations calling for improvements in the educational system
and the release of political prisoners. Ten years earlier, he took part in
the pro-democracy uprising led by detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi.

Amnesty International said he was badly tortured during his imprisonment
and suffered from a variety of health problems, including malaria. By 2005
he was reported to have been unable to walk without assistance.

The Assistance Association of Political Prisoners, a group of ex-political
prisoners based near the Thai-Myanmar border, said that Thet Win Aung was
among more than 125 political prisoners who have died in Myanmar jails
since 1988 because of abysmal conditions and brutal treatment.

The group said Thet Win Aung had been denied proper medical treatment, was
also suffering from mental illness and was only allowed infrequent visits
from family members. His elder brother, Htay Win Aung, a prominent
pro-democracy activist, was arrested for the second time last month.

"The AAPP believes his death was not due to natural causes ... he was
systematically killed by the military regime," it said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has been denied access to
Myanmar's prisons since December last year. Earlier, it helped provide
food and medicine to the 90 prisons and labor camps its representatives
were allowed to visit.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 17, Irrawaddy
Burmese gulag claims another victim

The international community and individual human rights groups have long
condemned abuses by the Burmese military government, accusing the junta of
being one of the world’s most repressive regimes. Many opposition groups,
at home and abroad, went further, often labeling it a “murderous regime”.
We believe the regime fully and shamefully deserves that label.

We were troubled and saddened to learn the news that the former student
activist Thet Win Aung died in Mandalay prison on Monday. He was only 34,
a victim of severe diseases such as malaria, maltreatment—and of a
criminal lack of medical attention. We were devastated to learn that
prison officials have refused to hand his body over to his family, who
assume that his remains were cremated secretly in prison.

The modest, soft-spoken student activist, a determined opponent of the
military regime, was arrested in 1998 by Burma’s notorious military
intelligence service when he reentered Burma from northern Thailand. He
was consigned to Burma’s gulag, sentenced to 59 years imprisonment—at 26,
one of the country’s youngest political prisoners.
His only crime was to establish and maintain contacts with exiled
opposition groups in Thailand and staying with them for some months. The
charge against him was “making contacts with unlawful associations”.

Among those “unlawful” contacts was The Irrawaddy. During a stay in Chiang
Mai in 1997-98, Thet Win Aung met some of our editorial staff, telling
them he was determined to return to Burma and stage a student
pro-democracy protest there. He knew the risks and dangers awaiting him
but he was determined to soldier on. But don’t get him wrong—he was
convinced that peaceful protest could move the regime to political change.
He believed his peaceful protest or even his arrest would draw more
attention from the international community.

He told staffers of The Irrawaddy that political dialogue between the
regime and the detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was
possible if students built up pressure on the regime with their protests.
We could not help but admire Thet Win Aung’s motivation and his strong
hope for the country. Indeed, his political conviction and inspiration to
see a democratic Burma cannot be compared with the generals, whose hands
are tainted with the blood of such fine young people.

Thet Win Aung joined the student movement in the critical year 1988 when
he was only 16 and already general secretary of the underground Basic
Education Student Union. He was first arrested in 1991and imprisoned for
nine months.

In prison, aside from physical and mental torture, he suffered from
malaria and various health problems but received little medical attention.
Pyone Cho, Thet Win Aung’s brother and a political activist who was
recently arrested, once said that during a prison visit they found he
could not walk.  The authorities were offering him scant medical
attention.

Since last December, the International Committee of the Red Cross has
suspended its prison visits because of restrictions placed on it by the
regime—a major blow to political prisoners, who relied heavily on ICRC aid
and medication.

In the 18 years since 1988, more than 130 political prisoners have died in
Burmese prisons, five so far this year alone, some of them in
interrogation centers—victims of torture, abuse and neglect. Sadly, we’ll
have to accept that Thet Win Aung won’t be the last.

If any one still believes that, with the resumption of the National
Convention, the regime is softening its repressive policies and
constructing the road to reform and the restoration of democracy the
example of Thet Win Aung proves them wrong. That is his bitter legacy.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

October 16, Amnesty International
Ko Thet Win Aung, prisoner of conscience, dies in prison

Amnesty International is deeply concerned by the death in Mandalay Prison
today of student leader and prisoner of conscience Thet Win Aung, aged 34.
The organization calls on authorities to initiate a prompt, independent
investigation into the causes of Ko Thet Win Aung’s death and to make the
findings public.  The organization also urges the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) to take urgent steps to protect all prisoners’
health.

Ko Thet Win Aung had been imprisoned since 1998 for his part in organizing
peaceful small scale student demonstrations which called for improvements
to the educational system in Myanmar and for the release of political
prisoners.

He had been badly tortured during his imprisonment, and had also suffered
from a variety of health problems, including malaria. Ko Thet Win Aung had
protested the lack of adequate medical treatment and poor diet in prison
by going on hunger strike in 2002. By 2005 he was reported to have been
unable to walk unassisted.

Amnesty International fears for the health of prisoners in Myanmar, and
particularly for those debilitated by years’ of imprisonment and
ill-treatment, forced to work in poor conditions in labour camps or act as
military porters. Prison deaths, including those of political prisoners,
are increasing. Poor prison conditions have further deteriorated during
2006.

Amnesty International accordingly urges the SPDC to ensure that the
authorities take all necessary steps to ensure that the basic rights of
prisoners are upheld and their health is not  jeopardized further. As a
matter of urgency prisoners should have access to an adequate diet and
health care. Access to specialist medical treatment should not be denied.
Torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment must be stopped – both
in custody and in prison.

Amnesty International expressed further concern that many  prisoners of
conscience are continuing to be denied their freedom, as Thet Win Aung
was, solely on the basis of their peaceful exercise of basic rights. Many
are in poor states of health, including both the young and aged, whose
physical and mental health has been worsened by torture and ill-treatment.
The organization renews calls on the authorities to immediately and
unconditionally release them.

Background

Scores of political prisoners have died in Myanmar since 1988.

Ko Thet Win Aung was arrested on 4 October 1998 and sentenced to 52 years’
imprisonment. This was subsequently increased to 59 years.

Ko Thet Win Aung took part in 1988 demonstrations against 26 years of
military rule, when he was a schoolboy studying in Yangon, Myanmar’s
capital city. He was one of the leading members of the local high school
students’ union, and in 1989 became a vice-general secretary of the Basic
Education Student Union (BESU). He was dismissed from school in 1991 for
his political activities and in September of that year was detained for
nine months during which time he was reportedly tortured.  Subsequently he
became a leading member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions
(ABFSU).

Ko Thet Win Aung was arrested with others including students Aye Aung and
Myo Min Zaw, who are both still imprisoned and in a poor state of health,
for his part in organizing small scale student demonstrations. After being
held incommunicado he was sentenced in a 10 day closed trial inside Insein
Prison, the main prison where political prisoners are held in Myanmar. He
and other students are believed not to have had access to lawyers, and
when they asked prison officials and the presiding judge for one, he is
reported to have made no response. They were denied the right to speak in
their own defence. The authorities stated at the time of his arrest that
Thet Win Aung and others arrested with him had been involved in attempts
to incite unrest to support plans by the National League for Democracy
(NLD), Myanmar’s main opposition party, to convene parliament.

Ko Thet Win Aung and others was given the maximum sentences possible under
security legislation and laws on publication, which, for example, requires
that leaflets be approved by the official censor. As is the case in other
convictions of political prisoners, his sentence was applied cumulatively,
rather than being served concurrently. He was held for the most part in
prisons distant from his family, often several days journey. The practise
of sending prisoners to distant prisons commonly jeopardizes prisoners’
health by denying them access to essential food and medicine provided by
family visits. It is believed that in Mandalay Prison, where he died, the
authorities have in 2006 restricted prisoners’ access to food and
medicine.

Ko Thet Win Aung’s brother, Ko Pyone Cho, has been held incommunicado
without charge since 29 September 2006, when the authorities detained him
and other prominent student leaders. The authorities have stated that the
group are being held in preventive detention. Many of the group had
previously been imprisoned for their political activities for up to 15
years, they are in debilitated states of health and require medical
treatment.

No independent body is currently monitoring detention conditions in
Myanmar. Prison visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) which was providing half the essential medicines and hygiene needs
of the 90 prison and labour camps that it visited, were suspended after
the authorities withdrew permission for it to visit prisons during 2006.
The ICRC had also worked with the Myanmar authorities in improving
detainees’ access to medical care.

For further information please see: Myanmar 1998 Crackdown on Students --
Imprisoned for up to 59 years (AI Index: ASA 16/008/2005)
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa160082005

____________________________________

October 17, All Burma Federation of Student Unions - Foreign Affairs
Committee
Student Leader Thet Win Aung dies in Mandalay prison

Yesterday, one of Burma’s prominent student leaders, Thet Win Aung, died
in Mandalay prison. His family was informed by the Special Branch of the
police in the afternoon. However, the officers made no mention of why and
how he died. The Foreign Affairs Committee of the All Burma Federation of
Student Unions are saddened by the loss of such a brave comrade.

Thet Win Aung was arrested in 1988 and sentenced to 59 years imprisonment
in Insein Prison.
Later, he was moved to Khanti prison where he suffered from malaria. Since
then, his health situation had deteriorated and he suffered from
depression. However, the prison authorities did provide him with the
proper medical treatment. Undoubtedly, this tragedy shows that the SPDC
has deliberately killed this imprisoned student leader. Thet Win Aung was
the younger brother of Ko Pyone Cho, a leader of the 88 Generation Student
Group. Pyone Cho was among the five leaders from the group to have been
recently arbitrary detained.

“Ko Thet Win Aung took part in the student movement in Burma since 1988.
He was arrested in 1998” said Min Naing, spokesperson of the Foreign
Affairs Committee of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, “He has
died at a time when his elder brother had just been re- arrested. We have
deep sympathy for his mourning family. We can not imagine their suffering.
We ourselves are very sorry to have lost such a priceless student leader.

“I was very angry when I heard this sorrowful news. I began to think, how
many students will die for our country?” stated Zin Maung, another
spokesperson of the ABFSU-FAC, “The SPDC claims that they are trying to
march on towards a developed country, but they are imprisoning and killing
students. The students are suffering from torture while in prison, as the
authorities try to suppress their willingness to work for democracy, human
rights and justice in Burma. This tragedy has greatly affected his family,
his comrades and his friends. It is a dark moment for our country.”


Brief Biography of Thet Win Aung

Name – Thet Win Aung (aka) Moe Naing
Birth of Date – 27/8/1971
Father – U Win Maung
Mother – Daw Mya Mya Aye
Address – Thamwe, Rangoon.
Prosecution- 1950 provision emergency Act 5 (J), Unlawful Associations Act
17(1) (2) 17 (1, 2)
Sentence – 59 years
Prisons – Insein, Kale, Khanti and Mandalay

Thet Win Aung was an active leader of the High School Student Union in
1988. He also organized and led the Rangoon Student Solidarity
Organization. He served as a central executive committee member of the
Basic Education Student Union (BESU).  He took part the ABFSU conference
which was held in Mandalay in 1990 as a representative of BESU. As a
result of his activities, he was arrested and investigated by the Military
Intelligence. However, he was released and took part in several student
movements. In 1994, he was recognized as a student leader by his peers.

Thet Win Aung actively took part in the 1996 student movement as a key
player. A warrant was put out by the Military Intelligence for his arrest.
Consequently, he was forced to move from his home. He felt unsafe in Burma
and thus fled to the Thai-Burma border for a short time. He ultimately
returned to Burma and contacted student activists trying to restore
democracy in Burma. He was arrested in September 1998 and sentenced to 52
years imprisonment. He was later given a 7 year extension to his sentence
by the authorities.

Thet Win Aung was honored by Reading University’s Student Union from
United Kingdom, who appointed him their Vice President.

For More Information:

Min Naing: + 66 1 - 6802015
Zin Maung: + 66 6 - 9233547