Young Activist Given 15-Year Sentence
A young activist, Dee Nyein Lin, 20, was sentenced to a total of 15 years and six months imprisonment on Wednesday, according to family members in Rangoon.
Dee Nyein Lin, who is a leading member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), received an additional 5-year sentence at a court in South Dagon Township in Rangoon, said his aunt. Currently, he is detained in Insein Prison in Rangoon.
His aunt told The Irrawaddy on Thursday, “I’m not happy because his sentence is harsh for him because he is still young. But, he told me not to worry about him. He said he works for the people. He asked me not to feel sad.”
Dee Nyein Lin was charged with taking part in anti-government demonstrations and establishing an illegal organization.
Dee Nyein Lin’s aunt said Burmese police tried to take photographs of his relatives and Dee Nyein Lin’s colleagues.
A colleague of Dee Nyein Lin, Kyaw Ko Ko, has been hospitalized in Insein Prison since January 5, suffering from jaundice.
Kyaw Ko Ko, also an ABFSU leader, was arrested in March 2008 following his participation in the Buddhist monk-led uprising in September 2007 and has since been detained in Insein Prison. He is scheduled to appear in court again on February 9.
Meanwhile, sources in Rangoon said that six cyclone relief volunteers including Nay Win, Aung Kyaw San, Phone Pyit Kywe, Phyo Phyo Aung, Shane Yazar Htun and Aung Thant Zin Oo (aka) James appeared in the Insein Prison special court on Monday. They are scheduled to appear again on February 10.
Recently, the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) and the Burmese Women’s Union strongly condemned the inadequate healthcare for political prisoners in Burma.
One detained female activist recently suffered a miscarriage.
Kay Thi Aung, 23, also an ABFSU member, suffered the miscarriage in Obo Prison in Mandalay Division because of a lack of adequate medical care in the prison, said the prisoner’s group.
Myanmar Junta Calls Suu Kyi’s Conditions for Talks Unrealistic
“A dialogue will be practical and successful only if the discussions are based on the reality of prevailing conditions,” Information Minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan said in a statement carried by state media yesterday. “There will be no success if it is based on unrealistic conditions.”
Suu Kyi, who has spent 13 of the past 20 years under house arrest, told UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari on Feb. 2 that she would only hold talks with the junta if all political prisoners are released and the results of 1990 elections won by her National League for Democracy are recognized, Agence France-Presse reported, citing NLD members at the meeting.
The junta plans elections in 2010 after it staged a referendum last year for a new constitution that it said was approved by 92 percent of voters. The NLD denounced the charter, which bars Suu Kyi, 63, from holding office, saying it aims to extend military rule.
Gambari was making his fifth visit to Myanmar since the junta crushed pro-democracy demonstrations led by monks in 2007, prompting international condemnation. The regime has stepped up prosecutions of dissidents involved in the protests, in what human rights organizations say is an effort to crush anti- government groups before the elections.
More than 2,000 political prisoners are held in Myanmar’s jails, according to the U.S. State Department.
International Sanctions
Myanmar’s Prime Minister Thein Sein told Gambari Feb. 3, at the end of the envoy’s four-day visit, that the UN should press for the lifting of international sanctions to promote political improvements in the country, according to the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Sanctions have damaged human rights and hindered efforts to build a democratic nation, Thein Sein told Gambari.
Suu Kyi first arrested in 1989, has had only brief periods of freedom from detention in her home in Yangon since her party won the 1990 elections. The results were rejected by the military, which has ruled the country formerly known as Burma since 1962.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, daughter of independence leader General Aung San, emerged as an opposition leader during an economic crisis in the late 1980s.
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