BurmaNet News, October 19, 2006

[Editor]

October 19, 2006 Issue # 3069

INSIDE BURMA
BBC Burmese Service: White Expression campaign ended with 'success'
AP: 300 mourn death of Myanmar activist
Narinjara: Prisoners forced to work in fire service and army uniforms

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: “Historical Accident” victims try to march on Bangkok
DVB: Thailand to improve the living conditions of Burmese refugees

BUSINESS / TRADE
Financial Times: Net of officialdom closes in for Burma's struggling
fisheries industry

HEALTH / AIDS
IPS: Engaging Burma with Funds for HIV, TB, Malaria

REGIONAL
Agence France: Thailand detains 'illegal immigrant' Myanmar activists
Narinjara: Burma, seven others in Asia-Pacific score poorly

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: International condemnation follows death of young activist
AP: U.S. criticizes Myanmar junta for political prisoner's death, demands
others be released
BBC Burmese Service: Northcote Parkinson Fund calls for release of Min Ko
Naing

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 19, BBC Burmese Service
White Expression campaign ended with 'success'

Leaders of 88 generation students group claim success on their latest
effort to convince the military government of Burma to release their
colleagues under detention.

The movement named as 'White Expression' called on the general public of
Burma to wear white shirts to express their intention to change the
country is clean as white.

Ko Mya Aye, one of the leaders who has involved in the campaign, said he
himself has witnessed massive support on their movement at least in
Rangoon and Mandalay.

Burmese government detains five leaders of 88 generation students - Min Ko
Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Ko Htay Kywe, Ko Min Zwya and Ko Pyone Cho - since the
end of September.

'White Expression' is an offshoot programme which is an integral part of
'Signature Campaign', a movement to collect signatures of the public
demanding the release of student leaders and to initiate political
dialogues leading towards national reconciliation.

Students says they have collected more than 300,000 signatures and the
campaign continues for another week.

____________________________________

October 19, Associated Press
300 mourn death of Myanmar activist

Nearly 300 friends and sympathizers attended the funeral of a 34-year-old
pro-democracy activist who had been imprisoned by the military junta and
died this week in jail, a colleague said Wednesday. Thet Win Aung, who had
been serving a 59-year sentence since 1998 after protesting for
educational reform, died Monday in a jail in central Myanmar, formerly
known as Burma.

Amnesty International called on Myanmar to launch an independent
investigation into his death, saying he was tortured during his
imprisonment and suffered from health problems, including malaria. By
2005, he was reported to have been unable to walk without assistance.

Myanmar's military government said he died of natural causes.

"Torture is not our policy and we have strict rules and regulations which
forbid abuse of prisoners," Ye Htut, an Information Ministry official,
said Tuesday in an e-mail.

The U.S. government said it was deeply troubled by Thet Win Aung's death.
State Department spokesman Tom Casey said in Washington that it
"demonstrates the tragic price the people of Burma are forced to pay for
opposing the repressive policies of the regime and standing up for their
human and democratic rights.

"Mya Aye, a former student leader who attended the funeral, said Thet Win
Aung's family was informed by prison authorities that he died of "heart
failure.

"The funeral, held at Kyarnikan cemetery in the central city of Mandalay,
was attended by Thet Win Aung's parents and elder brothers, as well as
scores of friends and members of the National League for Democracy, Mya
Aye said.

The National League for Democracy, led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi, is the main political party opposing the military government.

Another of Thet Win Aung's brothers, Htay Win Aung a key leader of the
dissident group 88 Generation Students was arrested on Sept. 30 along with
four other student activists. The brother, better known as Pyone Cho, had
sent a letter to the ruling junta chairman inquiring about the status of
three other detained activists.

Pyone Cho, who is still detained, was among the leaders of a 1988
nationwide uprising, which the military crushed before seizing power. He
served nearly 14 years in prison and was released in 2003.Casey, the U.S.
spokesman, also denounced the detention of Pyone and the others arrested
with him and demanded their immediate and unconditional release along with
Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners.

The junta held a general election in 1990 but refused to recognize the
results after a landslide victory by Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy.

Myanmar's military government is said by human rights groups and the
United Nations to hold more than 1,100 political prisoners under
inadequate and brutal conditions. The Assistance Association of Political
Prisoners, a group of former political prisoners based near the
Thai-Myanmar border, said more than 125 political prisoners have died in
Myanmar's jails since 1988.Australia expressed sadness Wednesday over Thet
Win Aung's death, calling on Myanmar's government to carry out an
independent investigation and release all political prisoners.

____________________________________

October 19, Narinjara News
Prisoners forced to work in fire service and army uniforms

To avoid attracting the attention of international human rights
organizations and local people to forced labour, Burma's military
authorities have been forcing prisoners to work in construction sites for
the Akyab-Rangoon and Kyaukpru-Ann-Rangoon motor roads wearing uniforms of
the fire service and the army, according to a report of BBC's Burmese
section yesterday.

About 400 prisoners, mostly from Akyab jails, are being forced to work on
the construction daily, the report said.

The prisoners were brought in seven army vehicles from the Akyab prison to
army headquarters in Ann on October 4, in order to work on the road
construction.

The army is detaining the prisoners in the barricaded buildings surrounded
by barbed wire, and bringing them to the construction site in army
vehicles every morning.

Among the prisoners, most have served their terms and are set to be
released from jail very soon a source said.

It is not uncommon for the authorities to force, soon to be released
prisoners, to work in road construction sites.

The reason behind prisoners wearing the uniform of the fire service and
the army while they work on the construction is to avoid drawing attention
of international human rights organizations and local people to forced
labour that occurs in Arakan State, reported a social worker from the
border area.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

October 19, Irrawaddy
“Historical Accident” victims try to march on Bangkok - Sai Silp

About 500 villagers made stateless by a 19th century British colonial
carve-up of a border region of Burma and Siam were intercepted by Thai
police on Thursday as they were traveling to Bangkok to tackle the British
Embassy about their plight.

The villagers, along with about 2,500 others in a similar position, were
victims of a “historical accident,” said Jon Ungpakorn, a former Thai
senator and organizer of a Thai Social Forum, beginning on Saturday, where
the group had planned to air their grievances.

The 3,000 or so villagers live in Thailand’s Ranong and Prachoub Kirikhan
provinces, bordering southern Burma, descendants of ethnic Thais who found
themselves marooned in Burma by a British colonial demarcation package in
1868. Burma’s rulers would have nothing to do with them, and gradually
whole communities moved to neighboring Siam, now Thailand. But Siam also
shunned them, and subsequent Thai governments refused to recognize them as
Thai citizens.

“It’s not their fault,” said Jon. “They just want the right to be Thai
citizens.”

About 500 of them set out on Thursday with a letter addressed to the
British Embassy in Bangkok, pleading for support in their efforts to win
Thai citizenship. Two hundred were intercepted in Prachoub Kirikhan
province and ordered to return home. Three hundred were stopped and
detained by police and troops in Ranong province.

____________________________________

October 18, Democratic Voice of Burma
Thailand to improve the living conditions of Burmese refugees

Thailand’s new government said yesterday that improving the living
conditions of thousands of Burmese refugees in camps along the country’s
border with Burma is its third highest priority.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said at a press
conference in Geneva on Tuesday that the agency is encouraged by Thai
Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont’s promise to improve the welfare of
140,000 mostly ethnic Karen refugees from Burma, after meeting with
representatives of UN agencies in Bangkok.

The new Thai government has said its top priorities are national
reconciliation and a solution to communal unrest in the south of the
country.

Surayud said he had long been sympathetic to refugees and that during his
military career he had worked with refugees at both the Cambodian and
Burmese borders.

“Prime Minister Surayud's comments encourage us to hope that the Thai
government will now move ahead with issuing identity cards to all camp
residents and will permit residents to move freely outside the camp to
work legally,” said the UNHCR. “These steps would be in line with accepted
standards and would also meet the genuine needs of Thailand's growing
economy for a bigger workforce.”

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 14, Financial Times
Net of officialdom closes in for Burma's struggling fisheries industry -
Amy Kazmin

Seafood exporters have to contend with western sanctions targeting the
country's junta as well as heavy regulation from the regime itself.

Myint Khine, managing director of Burma's Great International Co, started
exporting seafood almost a decade ago in order to buy a top-of-the-line
printing press and ink for his family's printing and advertising business.

That may sound an odd business plan, but not in military-ruled Burma where
the junta requires business people who wish to import goods to generate,
or at least find, their own source of scarce foreign exchange. "I had no
hard currency to buy a good printing machine, so I had to do the exports,"
Myint Khine recalls.

After initially buying raw prawns from farmers and getting them processed
at other plants, he invested almost Dollars 1m to build his own
seafood-processing plant, which began production in 2001.

But just two years later, Great International - like the rest of Burma's
fledgling seafood export industry and all other light manufacturers - lost
access to a key market when the US banned all imports from Burma, a
punitive move to put pressure on the country's military rulers to free
Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader.

The US import ban, long advocated by exiled Burmese activists who believe
that starving the country of hard currency will force the regime to relax
its grip on power, devastated the small garment industry and led to the
closure of 160 factories and the loss of about 80,000 jobs, according to
government figures.

Yet Burma's fisheries products industry, said to have had exports worth
almost Dollars 400m last year, limps on despite the western sanctions. It
also faces the headaches of operating in a country whose soldier-rulers
have little faith in market forces, want to micro-manage the economy, and
exert tight control over business. "Mostly, the industry is just barely
breathing," said Myint Khine, who employs 345 people at his factory.

The International Monetary Fund estimates that Burma's economy will grow
at about 7 per cent this year, due largely to rising revenues from exports
from offshore gas fields. Yet the hardships of the fisheries industry, one
of the biggest foreign currency earners, illustrates why the outlook for
investment and growth remains bleak.

Market access is one big obstacle. Burmese industry figures say a
significant quantity of local fishery products now goes through
neighbouring Bangladesh, which has unrestricted access to the US market.
Bangladesh has preferential, tariff-free access for its fisheries products
to the European Union, a privilege denied Burmese exporters.

Local seafood processors complain that sanctions squeeze profits and
constrain growth. "We cannot fetch the prevailing price," says Tin Maung
Thann, a central executive committee member of the Myanmar Fisheries
Federation, an organisation that represents the private sector's
interests, though the junta chooses its top leadership. "We cannot serve
the premium markets."

While other markets - mainly in Asia - remain open, businesses confront an
array of problems including persistent high inflation, a virtually
moribund banking system and expensive yet erratic telecommunication
services. They also deal with complex procedures devised by the military
to regulate all business activities, including overseas sales.

Each time a company ships overseas, it must first obtain an export
licence, which requires a trip to the remote new capital. A company must
get official "endorsement" of its selling price: reflecting concern that
companies are selling too cheaply or failing to declare the value of their
shipments to evade a 10 per cent export tax.

Officials set monthly mandatory minimum prices for seafood exports, based
on their assessment of market conditions, although companies can, and do,
argue they cannot obtain the mandated price from buyers.

US sanctions complicate exports to all markets by hindering Burmese firms'
access to the international financial system. While the junta requires
exporters to show a letter of credit from their buyer - deposited in a
local bank - before they can ship their goods, many foreign banks are now
unwilling to deal with Burmese banks. Instead, letters of credit are
routed through Singapore, adding to transaction costs.

The red tape for importing raw materials, including fish feed, machines,
and spare parts, is even greater. Import shipments are approved on a case
by case basis by a trade council chaired by the junta's number two man - a
process that generates uncertainty and bottlenecks.

Conditions like these cast a pall over prospects for fresh investment. Yet
Burma's seafood exporters, with their capital already sunk into ponds and
processing plants, are not willing to abandon their investments or the
quest for hard currency. As one shrimp farmer active in the fisheries
federation says: "Our management concept is that whatever is the
environment, we struggle on."

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

October 19, Inter Press Service
Engaging Burma with Funds for HIV, TB, Malaria - Marwaan Macan-Markar

An injection of fresh funds to aid military-ruled Burma's long suffering
people get relief from three killer diseases may help raise the level of
engagement between the international community and the secretive junta.

Primarily, ''Three-Disease Fund'' (3-D Fund) to combat AIDS, tuberculosis
(TB) and malaria worth 100 million US dollars will put to test a view
gaining ground in some Western capitals that humanitarian assistance to
Burma should be detached from the South-east Asian nation's troubled
politics.

The fund, which becomes operational early next year under United Nations
supervision, is backed by the European Union, Australia, Britain, the
Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. It is expected to fill a void created
after the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria pulled out
of Burma in August 2005 due to the barriers placed by Rangoon that
undermined its programmes worth 98.4 million dollars.

''For humanitarian reasons the international community cannot ignore the
plight of the people of Myanmar,'' Friedrich Hamburger, head of the
European Commission's diplomatic delegation to Burma, told IPS in an
e-mailed statement. ‘'We are convinced that well planned humanitarian
support can reach the poor and vulnerable.''

The Europeans have been assured by Burma, called Myanmar by the junta,
that the 3-D Fund will not find hurdles placed in its way, Hamburger
added. ‘'We have been assured by the relevant government authorities that
conditions will be in place to allow for vital resources both to reach
those who need them most and to be delivered effectively.''

The 3-D Fund is also expected to make more headway than the Global Fund
due to the special clauses included in a memorandum of understanding
(MoU), which was signed last week between Burmese Health Minister Kyaw
Myint and a ranking member of the U.N. Office for Project Services.

‘'We have an overall political framework to work with. And one of the big
differences is that this initiative requires those having programmes
through the 3-D Fund to work with the health systems at the township
level,'' Charles Petrie, U.N. country coordinator for Burma, said in a
telephone interview from Rangoon. ‘'You will actually have to engage with
the local health authorities.''

According to reports, the MoU also guarantees the officials, overseeing
the fund, complete access to all parts of Burma, including states along
the border embroiled in ethnic conflict. The Geneva-based Global Fund was
not as fortunate, however, since Rangoon placed severe travel restrictions
on non-governmental groups working on some of the Global Fund's programmes
in rural areas. Such impediments were imposed on other humanitarian and
relief agencies too, prompting some of them, like the France-based
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to pull out early this year.

The prospect of new funds coming to a country plagued with some of the
highest HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria rates in the region is being well
received by international humanitarian organisations working with local
communities that took a beating when the Global Fund quit Burma.

‘'It (3-D Fund) will fill the needs especially for those who are taking
ART (anti-retroviral therapy for HIV), and other essential medicines for
TB and malaria,'' Dr. Kyi Minn, HIV programme advisor in the Burma office
of World Vision, said in an IPS interview. ‘'Those who are affected by the
three diseases have more hope for survival.''

In fact, World Vision, an international Christian relief agency, was among
the non-governmental groups that saw its funding for HIV programmes
slashed after the Geneva-based Global Fund pulled out in protest. One, in
particular, was a home-based care programme and counselling services for
people with HIV in the Ayeyarwaddy Division and Chin State, in western
Burma.

‘'We were just about to start the programme and the funding was stopped,''
said Dr. Kyi Minn. ‘'The target population were potential migrants and
general population. The estimated beneficiaries were about 150,000
people.''

The Global Fund's choice of Burma as one of the over 120 developing
countries it was offering grants to scale-up grassroots and local
initiatives was timely, given the spread of the three killer diseases.
Now, a year after it took the unprecedented measure to quit, reports
suggest that the health conditions in Burma have not improved.

According to the Joint United Nations Programmes on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and
other health agencies, there are between 360,000 to 610,000 people living
with HIV in Burma. And the adult prevalence rate stands between 1.3
percent to 2.2 percent people infected out of the country's 50 million
people -- the highest infection rates in South-east Asia.

In addition, the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based think
tank, revealed in a 2005 study that Burma was the main source of all
strains of HIV spread across a wide arc of countries, from Kazakhstan, on
the west, to southern Vietnam, on the east..

The picture on TB is no less comforting. Burma has 97,000 new cases of TB
every year, a figure that the World Health Organisation (WHO) says has
earned the country a place among the world's 22 ‘'high burden'' countries
with the disease. As troubling for the Geneva-based health body is the
high prevalence of multi-drug resistant TB (MDRTB) --four percent new
cases, making it the second worse country in East Asia after China, which
has a 5.3 percent MDRTB prevalence rate.

Malaria is as widespread, with Burma claiming a place among the worst
affected countries in Asia, with 716,000 cases reported in 2003, according
to a WHO study done last year. In 2001, there were 661,463 malaria cases.

Such a dismal reality has not softened the junta enough to permit health
programmes to reach vulnerable communities in areas where Burma's ethnic
minorities live, say opposition groups. They point to the travel
restrictions still in place as an indicator of how Rangoon undermines
health initiatives that offer hope and relief to the affected.

‘'The travel restrictions that have been placed to stop NGOs
(non-governmental organisations) and humanitarian agencies travelling to
the border areas are still in place,'' says Zaw Min, foreign affairs
spokesman for the Democratic Party for a New Society, a political party
that was banned in 1991 by the junta.

‘'The 3-D Fund will need local partners to work freely. But the military
government is afraid of community-based organisations because they may be
able to sensitise people about political issues,'' he explained in an
interview. ''Recently, HIV/AIDS activists were arrested because of their
political affiliations with the (opposition) NLD (National League for
Democracy).''

____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 19, Agence France Presse
Thailand detains 'illegal immigrant' Myanmar activists

Thai authorities have arrested two activists from Myanmar as they were
canvassing for signatures for a petition urging Myanmar's junta to release
political prisoners, police said Thursday. At least 250,000 people in
military-ruled Myanmar are reported to have signed the petition, in a rare
sign of public dissent after six democracy activists were arrested last
month.

Thai Police Lieutenant Nattakit Eiampratom said two men were arrested
Saturday in the southwestern province of Samut Sakorn, which borders
Myanmar, as they were seeking more signatories.

"They were arrested and charged as illegal immigrants as they did not have
passports," Nattakit said, adding that one of the men held United Nations
refugee status but should not have left a border refugee camp.

The two men were sent to the Thai immigration bureau in Bangkok on
Wednesday. Immigration officials said they would be deported, but could
not confirm when.

The petition drive in Myanmar is a rare sign of dissent in a country where
the military has ruled since 1962 and has dealt harshly with any public
protests.

The campaign began on October 2, after six pro-democracy activists were
arrested in Myanmar and accused of inciting unrest.

The petition calls for the release of all of the 1,100 political prisoners
that the United Nations estimates are being held in Myanmar, including
democracy icon and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. It also requests
that the military government agree to talk to the political opposition.

____________________________________

October 19, Narinjara
Burma, seven others in Asia-Pacific score poorly - Iftekhar Ahmed

Burma along with seven other developing countries in Asia and the Pacific
region have fallen further behind achieving most of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 - an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report
said.

The report titled "Millennium Development Goals: Progress in Asia and the
Pacific 2006" was released on Monday. It has identified Burma and seven
other countries in the region as countries of most concern considering
their current level of progress on the MDGs.

The ADB report said Burma, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic
Republic, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines have fallen
behind as they have scored negatively on both progress and latest status
indices.

The MDG 2006 report has been prepared through a regional partnership with
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

"The region is not progressing fast enough to meet some important targets,
including infant mortality and access to basic sanitation in urban areas.
Meanwhile, HIV prevalence is actually on the rise and the number of people
with access to improved water sources is declining," the report said.

Placing Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Palau,
Thailand and Vietnam in the category -- "Moving Ahead", the report said
these countries are making good progress with the latest status better
than average for the region.

The report concluded that while developing countries must commit to
supporting institutions and policies that promote sustainable economic
growth required to achieve the MDGs, the developed countries must also
deliver more and more efficient aid and ensure fair trade and a more
equitable share of global prosperity for poor people.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 19, Irrawaddy
International condemnation follows death of young activist - Shah Paung

Members of the international community have expressed their outrage over
the death in custody of Thet Win Aung, a young democracy activist
imprisoned by Burma’s ruling junta since 1998.

“The US Department of State is deeply troubled by the death in custody of
Thet Win Aung, a pro-democracy activist and political prisoner in Burma,”
said Tom Casey, a spokesman for the State Department said on Wednesday.

“This death demonstrates the tragic price the people of Burma are forced
to pay for opposing the repressive policies of the regime,” he said.

The US also criticized Burma’s military rulers for the continued detention
of six leaders of the 88 Generation Students group—Min Ko Naing , Ko Ko
Gyi, Htay Kywe, Min Zeya, Pyone Cho (brother of Thet Win Aung) and Myint
Aye—who were arrested by Burmese authorities in late September.

Myint Aye, a former member of Burma’s main opposition party the National
League for Democracy, was reportedly sentenced to three years
imprisonment. Though no official reason has been given for his arrest,
some believe it might be linked to his involvement in several human rights
campaigns in the country.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Australia also expressed concern,
saying it was appalled by the death of the young activist and urged
Burma’s military government to move towards democratic reform.

“I call on Burmese authorities to undertake a thorough and independent
investigation into Thet Win Aung’s death,” Alexander Downer, Australia’s
foreign minister said in a press statement on Wednesday. “I strongly urge
the regime to demonstrate genuine progress towards democratic political
reform and to undertake constructive dialogue and reconciliation with all
political and ethnic groups,” he added.

The US and Australia also called for the unconditional release of all
political prisoners in Burma, including opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi. Exiled opposition groups such as the All Burma Federation of
Students’ Unions echoed these sentiments.

“I am very sad about the death of one of my sons and the arrest of
another, but I feel encouraged by the support of the international
community and fellow Burmese,” Thet Win Aung’s father, Win Maung, said.
“He did his duty the best he could.”

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 later was extended by 17 years.

He died on October 16 in Mandalay prison in central Burma at 34 years of
age. A funeral was held at a Mandalay cemetery, where about 400 people,
according to the father, paid their final respects.

____________________________________

October 19, Associated Press
U.S. criticizes Myanmar junta for political prisoner's death, demands
others be released

The death of Thet Win Aung illustrates the high price that opponents of
Myanmar's ruling junta have to pay for demanding their human rights, State
Department spokesman Tom Casey said. The 34-year-old opposition activist
died this week in jail in Yangon, the capital, where he was sentenced in
1998 to 59 years in jail for agitating for reform of the Asian country's
educational system.

Casey said the United States is deeply troubled by Thet Win Aung's death,
which he said "demonstrates the tragic price the people of Burma are
forced to pay for opposing the repressive policies of the regime and
standing up for their human and democratic rights.

"He denounced the continued detention of six democracy advocates arrested
last month Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kywe, Min Zeya, Pyone Cho and
Myint Aye and demanded their immediate and unconditional release along
with political party leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political
prisoners.

Human rights groups estimate that Myanmar's prisons hold more than 1,100
political prisoners in brutal conditions. A group of former political
prisoners based near the Thailand-Myanmar border says more than 125
political prisoners have died in jail since 1988, when the current junta
took power. Myanmar, also called Burma, has been under military rule since
1962.

____________________________________

October 19, BBC Burmese Service
Northcote Parkinson Fund calls for release of Min Ko Naing

At the 2006 Civil Courage prize award ceremony, two award winners of 2005
Min Ko Naing and Russian journalist Anna Politovskaya were praised for
their courage.

This year's award was given to Angolan journalist Rafael Marques de Morais.

The trustee of Northcote Parkinson Fund who sponsored the prizes told the
BBC they are worried about Min Ko Naing's health and urged the military
regime to free the students unconditionally and immediately.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

October 19, FCO Press Office
Ian McCartney condemns death in custody of Burmese political prisoner

Ian McCartney MP, Foreign Office Minister responsible for Burma, said today:

“I was appalled to hear that Ko Thet Win Aung, the 34 year old Burmese
student leader and political prisoner, died in Mandalay Prison on 16
October.  Ko Thet Win Aung was reportedly badly tortured in prison and
suffered from a variety of health problems.  He was one of a number of
individuals whose release the EU had  urged on humanitarian grounds. I
also understand that Ko Thet Win Aung’s parents were not allowed to see
their son’s body, in order to arrange a family burial, or to see their
other son, Ko Pyone Cho, who has been detained without charge since 30
September.

“I call on the Burmese government to initiate an immediate investigation
into Ko Thet Win Aung’s death and to release all political prisoners and
those detained without charge immediately.  I also call on the Burmese
government to allow independent bodies to monitor conditions in Burma’s
prisons.”

Notes for editors

In October 1988, Ko Thet Win Aung was sentenced to 59 years in prison for
helping to organise peaceful student demonstrations in Rangoon.  During
his time in prison, he was reportedly badly tortured and suffered from
several health problems.  No independent body has been allowed to monitor
conditions in Burma’s prisons since November 2005.  Ko Thet Win Aung was
recognised by Amnesty International as a Prisoner of Conscience.  Reading
University had appointed him an Honorary Vice President.

Ko Thet Win Aung’s brother, Ko Pyone Cho, was detained without charge on
30 September together with 4 other student leaders.  They have since been
held incommunicado.  Ian McCartney released a statement on 2 October
calling for their immediate release.  The statement can be found at
www.fco.gov.uk

____________________________________

October 18, U.S. Department of State

Burma - Death in Custody of Pro-Democracy Activist Thet Win Aung
Statement by Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman

The United States is deeply troubled by the death in custody of Thet Win
Aung, a pro-democracy activist and political prisoner in Burma.

The Burmese junta arrested Thet Win Aung in 1998 for organizing peaceful
student demonstrations and sentenced him to 59 years in prison.  This
death demonstrates the tragic price the people of Burma are forced to pay
for opposing the repressive policies of the regime and standing up for
their human and democratic rights.

The United States condemns the continued detention of the six
pro-democracy activists arrested in September: Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi,
Htay Kywe, Min Zeya, Pyone Cho, and Myint Aye.  We call for the immediate
and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi, these six activists, and
all other political prisoners; and for the initiation of a genuine process
of national reconciliation.