Amnesty International calls on authorities in Myanmar to release all prisoner of conscience
Amnesty International today issued a document detailing hundreds of the more than 1,350 political prisoners in Myanmar.
It provides details of individuals imprisoned solely for their peaceful exercise of the rights to freedom of
association, expression and assembly, and of others the organization believes may be prisoners of conscience.
(View the document online at http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacWBGabckp9bb0hPub/ and in PDF format at http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacWBGabckqabb0hPub/ )
Amnesty International urges the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to release all prisoners of conscience
immediately and unconditionally and to put an end to abuses in the administration of justice that enabled their
imprisonment.
Hundreds of prisoners, including National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo, have
been wrongfully denied their liberty for peaceful acts that would not be considered crimes under international law.
Their imprisonment has had grave effects on their health, families and future.
Generations of political activists have been imprisoned over decades. Among those for whose release the organization is
calling are farmers, politicians, teachers, lawyers, students, nuns, monks, the elderly and sick, parents and their sons
and daughters, and individuals who were juveniles at the time of their arrest. They have been held for acts of peaceful
dissent, including demonstrating for student rights, circulating news from foreign broadcasters in prison, arranging
political meetings, distributing leaflets, and writing a history of the student movement. Many have been tortured or
subjected to other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in pre-trial detention and prison.
At least 18 political prisoners are being held without charge or trial, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. They are being
held under legislation that allows the state to detain anyone whom they consider a danger to the state, without having
to take them to court or charge them.
Amnesty International stated that aside from the fact they should never have been imprisoned in the first place, there
are strong humanitarian grounds for the release of many prisoners. Many prisoners of conscience are in a poor state of
health, made worse by their treatment in detention. In 2004 alone, at least five political prisoners are known to have
died, either in prison or within months of their release, and in some cases their treatment in detention may have
exacerbated the medical conditions that led to their death.
Amnesty International urges the authorities to put an end to harassment and imprisonment of people for their peaceful
political activities. For decades repressive laws have been used to imprison people for their peaceful exercise of basic
rights.
Amnesty International also urges that no conditions be attached to the release of prisoners of conscience. Conditions
attached to past amnesties of political prisoners have been used to penalize individuals for the peaceful exercise of
their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. Amnesty International is also urging the SPDC to take
action to ensure that there are no restrictions on rights to freedom of movement, to work and education of those
released. Such restrictions have in the past been placed on former prisoners of conscience, their relatives and other
political activists.
Background Information
On 18 November and again on 25 November, the SPDC announced that it had suspended the sentences of first 3,937 and then
another 5,311 prisoners, after reportedly stating that they had been wrongfully imprisoned by the National Intelligence
Bureau. According to Amnesty International’s information, approximately 40 political prisoners are believed to have been
included in these releases. A significant proportion of those released including student leader and prisoner of
conscience Paw U Tun, aka Min Ko Naing, should never have been imprisoned in the first place , and in many cases were
eligible for release with time off their sentences for parole, or had reached the legal limit for application of
administrative detention legislation.
Prisoners of conscience released in similar amnesties in the past have been arbitrarily rearrested and made to serve the
remainder of their sentence. Authorities have also harassed and threatened former prisoners of conscience with rearrest
and with serving their prison "debt", to make them desist from political activities.
The authorities have arbitrarily denied many prisoners of conscience identity cards and other travel documents and
prevented them from re-enrolling in education interrupted by their imprisonment. They have also pressured employers of
former political prisoners not to employ them, and have threatened political activists and their relatives, including
former political prisoners, that they will not be granted business licenses if they engage in political activities.
Civil servants imprisoned for political activities have been dismissed, and had their pensions reduced.
View all documents on Myanmar at http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacWBGabckqbbb0hPub/