5th August, 2008

Burma’s ruling junta has been urged to release more than 2,000 political prisoners still held 20 years after they were detained as part of government moves to crush a pro-democracy uprising.

Amnesty International has urged the United Nations to “take stronger measures” to obtain the release of political prisoners including the longest serving prisoner, journalist and opposition party member, U Win Tin.

The London-based group says that some 2,050 people still remain incarcerated after they were arrested following demonstrations in August 1988 which started in Rangoon and spread to other cities in the Asian nation. The organisation says about 3,000 people were killed in the crackdown.

Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International researcher, says that despite “countless claims by the government of Myanmar that it is moving toward allowing broader political participation, U Win Tin was detained not long after the 1988 demonstrations, and remains in prison along with thousands of others”.

“Nothing speaks louder of the government’s poor faith than the fact that there are more long-standing political prisoners in Myanmar now than at any other time since those protests.”

In particular, the organisation has called for the immediate release of 20 prominent activists, including U Win Tin.

~ www.amnesty.org