Police officers sit in a truck as a car carrying a diplomat leaves the Insein prison after the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi last year. (Photo: AP)In a letter leaked ahead of a visit by the UN human rights envoy to Burma on Thursday, political prisoners at Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison demanded improved conditions, including access to reading materials and better food and health care.
The UN envoy, Tomás Ojea Quintana, went to the prison at noon on Thursday as part of a five-day visit to the country to examine the Burmese authorities' treatment of political prisoners.
According to the letter, rice given to prisoners is stale and mixed with small stones. It also said that although prisoners are allowed to receive books and newspapers from relatives, all reading material is heavily censored.
“Books and journals our families gave to us have been cut out and torn apart,” the letter reads.
Of the more than 2,000 political prisoners in Burma, nearly 400 are detained in Insein Prison, the country's largest prison. Around 300 of the political prisoners currently serving sentences at the prison were arrested in the aftermath of monk-led mass protests in September 2007.
The authenticity of the letter was confirmed by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a Thailand-based Burmese human rights group.
“We can only confirm that the letter did come from the political prisoners,” said Bo Kyi, the AAPP joint-secretary. “But we cannot tell you how it came out for security reasons.”
On Wednesday, Quintana traveled to northwestern Arakan State, where he met several political prisoners at Buthidaung Prison, including Htay Kywe, a prominent student activist serving a 65-year sentence for his role in the 2007 uprising.
After his prison visit, Quintana will meet with Tin Oo, the vice-chairman of the opposition National Leagues for Democracy, who was released from six years of house arrest last weekend.
The UN envoy has asked the ruling military junta to release all political prisoners and ensure that elections to be held later this year are fair and transparent.
Comments
Post a Comment