AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL BLASTS BURMA

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

                         Amnesty International Blasts Burma

                         Wednesday, June 18, 1997; 1:52 p.m. EDT 

                         BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Burma sentenced more than
                         1,000 political activists to prison last year and
keeps some in
                         tiny cells used for guard dogs, a human rights
group said
                         Wednesday. 

                         No political prisoners arrested in previous years
were released
                         in 1996, the London-based group Amnesty
International said
                         in its annual report on Burma. In an earlier
report, the group
                         called 1996 the worst year ever for human rights in
Burma. 

                         ``Prison conditions for political prisoners were
harsh, often
                         amounting to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
Prisoners
                         suffered from a lack of medical care and inadequate
diet,'' the
                         report said. 

                         It said prisoners were forced to take injections
with unsterilized
                         needles, which may have caused the AIDS that killed a
                         member of Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi's
                         pro-democracy party. 

                         The United Nations and Western governments have
regularly
                         condemned Burma's military rulers for their poor
human rights
                         record. The United States imposed economic
sanctions against
                         Burma in April because of its increased repression
of Suu Kyi's
                         democracy movement. 

                         Amnesty International said 2,000 political
activists were
                         arrested in 1996, and more than 700 of them were
released.
                         Of those still imprisoned, 175 have yet to receive
trials --
                         including Aye Win, a cousin of Suu Kyi who was her
secretary
                         after her release from six years of house arrest in
1995. 

                         The group described trials conducted by the
government as
                         unfair. Prisoners are rarely allowed lawyers. 

                         In addition, the report said Burma's ethnic groups
have suffered
                         greatly at the hands of the regime, despite
cease-fires it signed
                         with many ethnic insurgents. 

                         Amnesty said 20,000 ethnic Chins were used as
forced labor
                         on a road project, while more than 100,000 Shan and
Karenni
                         were forcibly relocated to cut off support for
resistance groups.

                         Muslims also were persecuted, and more than 5,000
fled the
                         country into Bangladesh, it added. 

                         The government usually does not respond to reports
by human
                         rights groups, but Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw told
the United
                         Nations earlier this year that his country doesn't
have a human
                         rights problem.