Burmese journalist U Win Tin, the longest-serving political prisoner in military-ruled Burma, was released on September 23, along with 9,000 others, media reports said.
Mizzima News Agency, a SEAPA partner, said that aside from U Win Tin, who had been incarcerated in Burma's notorious Insein prison for 19 years, several other political prisoners have also been released.
A report from Reuters quoted U Win Tin as saying, "I will keep fighting until the emergence of democracy in this country."
Also granted amnesty were Daw May Win Maung, an elected Member of Parliament (MP) in 1990 from Mayankone Township, Taungoo MP Aung Soe Myint, and National League for Democracy (NLD) member U Aye Thin, according to NLD spokesperson Nyan Win.
The Southeast Asian Press Alliance -- a coalition of press freedom advocacy groups from the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia -- welcomes the release of U Win Tin. At the same time, the coalition notes that many more political prisoners remain in Burma's jails. SEAPA therefore maintains its call for the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience in Burma.
About U Win Tin
U Win Tin is a former editor of the "Hanthawathi" newspaper and founder of the NLD, which was denied the right to govern the country despite its landslide win in the 1991 general election. Until his release, he was the longest-serving political prisoner in military-ruled Burma. He had been behind bars for more years than even NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
U Win Tin was sentenced in 1989 to a total prison term of 20 years on various charges, which included instigation to civil disobedience against martial law, and publishing "anti-government propaganda", including his denouncing of human rights abuses at Insein. Despite widespread reports of his failing health, promises of his release in 2004 and 2005 were not fulfilled.
The International Committee of the Red Cross had been barred from visiting him since 2006. U Win Tin has had two heart attacks and has suffered from high blood pressure, diabetes and an inflammatory disease that affects 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.
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The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (http://www.seapa.org) is a coalition of press freedom advocacy groups from Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. Established in November 1998, it is the only regional network with the specific mandate of promoting and protecting press freedom throughout Southeast Asia. SEAPA is composed of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (Indonesia), the Jakarta-based Institute for the Study of the Free Flow of Information (ISAI), the Manila-based Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, and the Thai Journalists Association. SEAPA also has partners in Malaysia, Cambodia, and East Timor, and undertakes projects and programs for press freedom throughout the region.
For inquiries, please contact us at: seapa@seapa.org, or call +662 243 5579.
