Burma Report Itemizes Torture Of Dissidents
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LONDON – A catalogue of fatal abuse of political prisoners in Burma is disclosed in a report released today, with detainees beaten to death, held in appalling conditions, and deprived of medical care.
Since the beginning of last year 10 political prisoners have died from torture and ill-treatment, says the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).
Human rights groups say there are more than 1,100 political prisoners there.
The most prominent is a Nobel peace prize winner and leader of the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest in Rangoon. Her detention order is due to expire on Saturday but is expected to be extended.
The report will add to pressure, particularly in America, for the U.N. Security Council to take action against the Burmese regime.
The report is titled “Eight Seconds of Silence,” a reference to the tribute held at political funerals, symbolizing August 8, 1988, when popular demonstrations against the regime began. It says that at least 127 political prisoners have died in custody since then. Most died in prison where, the report says, conditions “are among the worst the world over, with animals and insects in cells.”
Political prisoners are abused by criminal inmates, with the connivance of jailers.
An NLD member, Min Tun Wai, was last May sentenced to five days for fighting. Within three days he was beaten to death by inmates with, the report says, encouragement from prison authorities.
A 30-year-old NLD activist, Aung Hlaing Win, was taken from a restaurant in Rangoon by a group of men. Days later military officials told his family he had died of a heart attack.
A post-mortem examination found 24 wounds and four broken ribs. His family was made to issue a statement saying he died “of general diseases.”
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the U.N. special rapporteur on Burma, said: “Nothing is more revealing about the situation of human rights in a country than the existence of political prisoners. They embody the denial of the most basic freedoms essential to humankind.”
The Burmese government consistently denies any human rights abuses.
