Wednesday October 10, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
An active member of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party in Burma has died under interrogation, as the crackdown against last month's protests continues.
Win Shwe, a 42-year-old member of the National League for Democracy was arrested with five colleagues on September 26, the day the junta began to put down the demonstrations.
According to a Thailand-based human rights group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the security forces told Win Shwe's family that he had died during interrogation.
"They didn't say when he died or the reason why he died, but they did say he had been cremated," the AAPP spokesman, Ko Bo Kyi, told Guardian Unlimited.
He described Win Shwe as an "ordinary but active member of the National League for Democracy".
The AAPP is also concerned about the fate of the pro-democracy leader, Hla Myo Naung, who was arrested today while on his way to seek treatment for an eye problem.
Hla Myo Naung is the main spokesman for the 88 Generation Students, a group that takes it name from the 1988 uprising in which 3,000 protesters were killed.
Hla Myo Naung was quoted yesterday by the Irrawaddy, the Thai-based Burmese news website, at the launch of a campaign for the release of political prisoners in Burma.
"It is a peaceful expression and I don't think the authorities will respond to our campaign by punishing participants," Hla Myo Naung said.
The AAPP spokesman said he was concerned that Hla Myo Naung would be tortured.
"His eye problem is serious," he said. "I want the military regime to provide him proper medical treatment and not to torture him. One activist has died under interrogation," he said.
The AAPP claimed that Hla Myo Naung is one of seven people to have been arrested in the last two days.
Meanwhile, a Burmese diplomat resigned in protest against the regime's "horrible" treatment of protesters. Ye Min Tun, a foreign ministry official, announced his resignation in a letter to the Burmese embassy in London. He told the BBC that as a "good Buddhist" he found the beating of monks "horrible".
"This revolution, this incident, seemed to be the decisive factor that could persuade the government to go to the negotiating table. But actually the government ignored the reality."
Burma's military leader, General Than Shwe, has agreed to talk to Aung San Suu Kyi, but only if she agrees to drop her "confrontational stance" towards the regime and stops calling for sanctions against Burma.
Yesterday Aung San Suu Kyi's party rejected his terms for negotiations, but said it was prepared to make "adjustments" for the sake of dialogue.
An active member of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party in Burma has died under interrogation, as the crackdown against last month's protests continues.
Win Shwe, a 42-year-old member of the National League for Democracy was arrested with five colleagues on September 26, the day the junta began to put down the demonstrations.
According to a Thailand-based human rights group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the security forces told Win Shwe's family that he had died during interrogation.
"They didn't say when he died or the reason why he died, but they did say he had been cremated," the AAPP spokesman, Ko Bo Kyi, told Guardian Unlimited.
He described Win Shwe as an "ordinary but active member of the National League for Democracy".
The AAPP is also concerned about the fate of the pro-democracy leader, Hla Myo Naung, who was arrested today while on his way to seek treatment for an eye problem.
Hla Myo Naung is the main spokesman for the 88 Generation Students, a group that takes it name from the 1988 uprising in which 3,000 protesters were killed.
Hla Myo Naung was quoted yesterday by the Irrawaddy, the Thai-based Burmese news website, at the launch of a campaign for the release of political prisoners in Burma.
"It is a peaceful expression and I don't think the authorities will respond to our campaign by punishing participants," Hla Myo Naung said.
The AAPP spokesman said he was concerned that Hla Myo Naung would be tortured.
"His eye problem is serious," he said. "I want the military regime to provide him proper medical treatment and not to torture him. One activist has died under interrogation," he said.
The AAPP claimed that Hla Myo Naung is one of seven people to have been arrested in the last two days.
Meanwhile, a Burmese diplomat resigned in protest against the regime's "horrible" treatment of protesters. Ye Min Tun, a foreign ministry official, announced his resignation in a letter to the Burmese embassy in London. He told the BBC that as a "good Buddhist" he found the beating of monks "horrible".
"This revolution, this incident, seemed to be the decisive factor that could persuade the government to go to the negotiating table. But actually the government ignored the reality."
Burma's military leader, General Than Shwe, has agreed to talk to Aung San Suu Kyi, but only if she agrees to drop her "confrontational stance" towards the regime and stops calling for sanctions against Burma.
Yesterday Aung San Suu Kyi's party rejected his terms for negotiations, but said it was prepared to make "adjustments" for the sake of dialogue.
Special reportMore on Burma
Q&As27.09.2007: Life in Burma
27.09.2007: Protests in Burma
MultimediaInteractive: Burma protests
Guardian AbroadCampaign for Burma
News guideBurma: best news websites
Useful linksFree Burma Rangers
3 comments:
Floyd,
Thank you for your comment on FreeTrafficTip.com regarding my commenting on the Burma debacle. I would like to point out on little thing regarding your commenting.
FreeTrafficTip is comprised of Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Cindy Lighter and myself along with some staff members. Tinu does most of the posting while I am responsible for posting Tool Time Friday articles and other things.
In the future, when you hand out awards, make sure that it's either for the site, or if you've giving them out individually, then comment on one of Tinu's posts or one of mine.
You'll be able to tell the difference as I sign my posts as MorganLighter and Tinu rarely signs her posts at all.
Thanking you so very kindly for the mention.
All the best to you!
Morgan
Scary post. Floyd - You're very welcome! And thank you so much for the link, I got you back; on the side, and in the Burma posts. Great job on this blog.
May I suggest though, that unless you've decided against it, to open up 'Links to Posts', I believe it will get you some more traffic. It's just one more reason for people to link to your posts.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe thinks
Buddhists are terrorists
killing hundreds weekly
but always in peaceful ways
:)
.
you are on the ball floyd. my obscure little blog even got thanked for caring about Burma. You inspire me to do more, thanks.
http://ratttler.blogspot.com/2007/10/spreading-democracy-where.html
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