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BURMA URGED TO FREE SICK PRISONERS
- Subject: BURMA URGED TO FREE SICK PRISONERS
- From: moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 17:56:00
Burma Urged to Free Sick Prisoners
Saturday, October 11, 1997; 1:41 p.m. EDT
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Amnesty International is
urging
Burma's military government to release three ailing
political
prisoners, who have been transferred to a hospital
for medical
treatment.
Burma's prisons are crowded and inmates suffer from
poor
diet, sanitation and health care, human rights
groups say.
Unhealthy conditions and delayed medical care
allegedly have
led to the deaths of political prisoners in the past.
The London-based human rights group said Win Tin, Cho
Aung Than and Aung Khin Sint, all members of the
pro-democracy party led by Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi, should ``not be returned to prison
under any
circumstances.''
Cho and Win Tin both have heart conditions, Amnesty
said.
A government official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity,
said Aung Khin Sint has high blood pressure, a weak
heart and
diabetes. The official said Cho had high blood
pressure but
denied that his condition was serious.
The three men, all in their 60s, have recently been
transferred
from prison to a Rangoon hospital.
In addition, Suu Kyi's cousin, Aye Win, who had
been held
since May 1996 without trial, is also receiving
heart treatment
at the hospital, members of Suu Kyi's National
League for
Democracy said.
Amnesty International estimated that Burma's
political prisoners
number more than 1,000. Many are from Suu Kyi's party.
Burma's military government succeeded an earlier
military
regime in 1988, suppressing pro-democracy
demonstrations by
killing thousands of protesters.
Suu Kyi received the Nobel in 1991 for her peaceful
efforts to
bring democracy to Burma.