UN official denied meeting with Myanmar opposition leader

Yangon - United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar Tomas Ojea Quintana left the country Friday after being refused access to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is serving an 18-month house arrest sentence.

'I am disappointed and deeply regret that I was not allowed to meet with Daw (Madame) Aung San Suu Kyi,' Ojea Quintana said before his departure.

'The government gave no reason for why they would not allow me to meet her,' he added.

Suu Kyi, 65, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party, has spent 14 of the past 21 years under detention.

In August, a Yangon court sentenced Suu Kyi to 18 months under house arrest for breaking the conditions of her previous detention, by allegedly allowing US citizen John Yettaw to swim to her lakeside compound.

Her legal team has appealed the sentence, but few believe the ruling junta will allow her to be free this year when a general election is planned.

Ojea Quintana arrived in Myanmar Monday for a five-day visit to assess the country's human rights situation.

Besides appealing to the government to release Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace prize laureate, Ojea Quintana also asked for the release of another 2,100 political prisoners, some of whom are serving 65-year sentences.

'I asked the government to release the lady immediately, because her sentence was not in keeping with international law,' he said.

Suu Kyi is referred to as 'the lady' by her followers.

The junta apparently refused his request and repeated their stance that there were no political prisoners in Myanmar, whose military-run regime has chalked up one of the world's worst human rights records over the past decades.

The junta, run by military supremo Senior General Than Shwe, is convinced that holding a general election this year would deflect widespread criticisms of its rule, refusal to introduce democratic reforms and improve its human rights record.

Ojea Quintana said the regime told him that it had already drafted laws on political party registration that would be announced at a still undisclosed date.

'The human rights situation in Myanmar remains serious,' the UN rapporteur said.

Source :http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1534983.php/UN-official-denied-meeting-with-Myanmar-opposition-leader