The Human Rights Blog

Burma: Journalist U Win Tin spends 18th year in prison

4 July 2007

Journalist U Win Tin spends 18th year in prison; denied early release for
refusing to renounce political activity

SOURCE: Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), Bangkok

On 4 July 2007, Burma's most famous journalist, U Win Tin,
will have spent 18 years in prison for having displeased the Burmese junta.

SEAPA remains gravely concerned at the continued imprisonment of the
77-year-old journalist and poet, and once again calls for his immediate
release.

In March 2007, U Win Tin had reportedly stressed to a prison director that
"it is my right to be free because I have served 18 years of my 20-year
sentence and I qualify for early release."

U Win Tin was eligible for early release in July 2006, but was denied this
right for not having performed hard labour.

Despite his poor health, he has consistently refused to renounce political
activity as a condition of his release.

According to Burma Media Association (BMA), a network of exiled Burmese
journalists, he recently told a friend who was allowed to visit him that
"two prison officers asked me at a special meeting last week whether I
would resume political activities if I were released. I told them that I
will definitely do so, since it is my duty as a citizen to strive for
democracy".

U Win Tin's principal crime, said BMA vice-chairperson Zin Linn, was being
a key adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi, the general-secretary of National League
for Democracy (NLD), whose landslide win of the 1991 general elections was
never recognised by the military regime.

He has been sentenced thrice, each time while incarcerated: first, to three
years with hard labour for instigating civil disobedience against martial
law; then, to 11 years over another case for the same "offence". He is now
serving a seven-year sentence over his testimony to the United Nations on
the military's record of human rights violations against political
prisoners. Promises of his release in 2004 and 2005 were never fulfilled.

Since 2006, the International Committee of the Red Cross has been barred
from visiting him. U Win Tin has had two heart attacks and has suffered
from high blood pressure, diabetes and an inflammatory disease that affects
his spine. His poor health was exacerbated by ill treatment, which has
included torture, lack of medical treatment, solitary confinement without
bedding, and being deprived of food and water for long periods of time.
Even though a prison doctor attends to him twice a month, he is dependent
on medication and food brought by his family and friends.

Denied paper or writing instruments, the resourceful journalist reportedly
formulated his own ink out of powder extracted from the bricks of his cell,
and fashioned a pen from a piece of bamboo mat.

He received the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, the World
Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award and Reporters
Without Borders/Fondation de France Prize for his steadfastness to the
cause of freedom of expression despite facing great adversity.

For further information, contact Roby Alampay, Executive Director, or Chuah
Siew Eng, Alerts Coordinator, at SEAPA, 538/1 Samsen Road, Dusit, Bangkok,
10300 Thailand, tel: +662 243 5579, fax: +662 244 8749, e-mail:
sieweng@seapa.org, seapa@seapabkk.org, Internet: http://www.seapabkk.org

Lybia: Release of POCs good but...

This is a communique by the Geneva-based Libyan League for Human Rights apropos of the release of 130 political prisoners.

---

Release of prisoners of opinion is a step in the right direction, but...

1. The Libyan League for Human Rights welcomes the Libyan Government’s decision to release 130 prisoners of opinion who had served terms of imprisonment ranging from 6 to 15 years. However the number of political prisoners not covered by the amnesty is estimated at about 500, including Mr. Fathi Al-Jahmi, in addition to those arrested in the aftermath of the protest at Benghazi on Friday, 17 February 2006. Their number is estimated by private sources (in view of the total governmental blackout concerning these detentions) at 300-500 detainees. The League regrets that the persons amnestied were released only after being obliged to sign an undertaking not to engage in any future activities relating to public affairs, which is in itself a flagrant violation of their civil and political rights.

2. While the League has no doubt that the release of a batch of detainees constitutes a significant humanitarian act from the standpoint of the persons released, their families and society as a whole, violations of human rights, including arbitrary detention, imprisonment and unfair trials, will not cease merely by virtue of the release of political prisoners who were primarily victims of random and arbitrary detention and unjust trials, since no earnest measures have been taken to address the reasons which led to those violations. The main reason for violations of human rights in general, and arbitrary detention and imprisonment in particular, lies in the lack of a national Constitution recognizing the equality of all Libyans before the law, as well as the separation of judicial, legislative and executive powers, and clearly defining the structure of the State, the jurisdiction of its institutions, the functions and responsibilities of its rulers and the democratic process by which they should be elected. Such a Constitution is the only way to effectively guarantee the cessation of human rights violations in Libya, safeguard public freedoms and prevent people from being incarcerated for the mere exercise of their basic human rights, such as the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. What is needed is an extension of the scope of legal freedoms in such a way as to ensure that all Libyans can participate in public affairs under conditions that permit freedom to criticize, call to account, publish, organize, vote and stand for election, as well as other basic legitimate rights which every citizen should enjoy. The narrow scope of freedoms in Libya poses a constant threat to the citizen’s basic rights and is the main reason underlying the never-ending campaigns of detention by security services and revolutionary committees which still believe that the citizen’s exercise of any of his or her rights is a crime meriting imprisonment, detention and even deprivation of the right to life, as happened at Benghazi.

3. The time has come to institute reform programmes and recognize the right of citizens to fully enjoy all their freedoms. However, no reform will be possible without acknowledgement of the fact that the country’s interests do not necessarily coincide with the interests of the ruling party of revolutionary committees and that citizens are capable of loyally serving the interests of their country without being registered members or supporters of that party or any of its organizations. Priority must be accorded to national interest and regimes should derive their legitimacy from their ability to serve and express those interests. No party, faction or regime is entitled to claim a unique historic role and no individual is entitled to ostracize or persecute another or deprive him of his right to life, his right to freedom of expression or his right to take part in the conduct of public affairs. The best way to avoid further suffering and human rights violations in Libya is through the rapid initiation of genuine dialogue and acceptance of the principles of pluralism, these being the essential prerequisites for any plan designed to introduce reform or change. The League takes this opportunity to urge all sections of Libyan society at home and abroad to embark on a serious national dialogue, from which no one should be excluded, in order to create a new climate of confidence and mutual respect that will enable all Libyans to focus on their country’s fundamental interests. The release of prisoners of opinion is a step in the right direction but is insufficient in itself unless it is followed by further courageous steps to abolish restrictions and enable all Libyans to participate in the establishment of a modern State led by a Government that derives its legitimacy from a social contract based on pluralism, peaceful alternation of power and the rule of law.

2 March 2006

You can e-mail the league at allibyah@yahoo.com

Amnesty asks Yahoo! to help free POC

The international human rights organization Amnesty International has issued an urgent action asking its supporters to write to Yahoo!'s chief yahoos asking for their help in assuring the release of journalist Shi Tao.

Shi Tao was arrested after Yahoo! provided the Chinese government account holder information on him. Tao was accused of “illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities” by using his Yahoo email account and sending an email summarizing an internal Communist Party directive to a foreign source. The Communist Party directive had warned Chinese journalists of possible social unrest during the anniversary of the June 4 Movement (in memory of the Tiananmen crackdown), and directed them not to fuel it via media reports.

Amnesty considers Shi Tao a prisoner of conscience.

The urgent action is available at http://web.amnesty.org/pages/chn-310106-action-eng

Lori Berenson bakes

Lori Berenson, the American activist arrested in Peru and originally tried for "treason" by a faceless military tribunal, has now spent ten years in prison. Currently she is in prison in Cajamarca, and spent December working in the prison's bakery turning out Christmas breads to be sold in town. Peruvian TV captured some of her time in the kitchen.

http://www.peru.com/noticias/idocs/2005/12/2/DetalleDocumento_264368.asp

Lori was originally arrested and accused of being a member of the terrorist organization Movimiento Revolucionario Tupca Amaru (MRTA). She was tried by military court composed of faceless judges, found guilty of treason and sentenced to life in prison. She spent the first few years of her imprisonment in the Yanamayo prison near Puno, on the high Andes. There she endured sub-human conditions, including exposure to freezing temperatures, lack of appropriate food and opportunities for exercise. Due to this conditions, she developed numerous health problems.

Due to international pressure, Peru eventually abandoned its military tribunals and re-tried Lori in a civilian court. The court found that there was no credible evidence that she was ever part of the MRTA, much less in the leadership of the organization, but that some of the actions she undertook constituted collaboration with terrorism. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Her case was presented to the Inter-American Committee on Human Rights, who found that both judicial procedures had violated her rights under the convention. However, the Committee's decision was appealed to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights which found that while the military procedures had, indeed, violated her rights, the civilian procedures did not violate the norms of due process under the convention.

Lori continues in prison, now at the Huacariz Prison in Cajamarca, where prison conditions are better.

For more information see:

Committee to Free Lori Berenson
Sentence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights