Bangkok - Many of Myanmar's political prisoners have already
died in jail and at least 127 of them, including opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi, are now in poor health requiring immediate medical
treatment, a prisoners advocacy group claimed Monday.
According to a report compiled by the Thailand-based Assistance
Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) entitled 'Burma's prisons
and labour camps: Silent killing fields,' Myanmar's myriad political
prisoners face new hazards to their health, such as being transferred
to remote jails where access to doctors, medicines and family
assistance is extremely limited.
'The situation for Burma's political prisoners is dire,' AAPP
Joint-Secretary Bo Kyi said. 'Leading activists have been transferred
to the most remote prisons, where there are no prison doctors, and
they are more likely to contract diseases like malaria and
tuberculosis.'
Since October, some 357 political activists have been sentenced to
stiff jail terms of up to 104 years. Many of these new prisoners have
been transferred to remote areas, where access to medicine and
medical care is meagre and they are often cut off from crucial food
supplies and money from their families, the AAPP report said.
Junta-ruled Myanmar has more than 2,500 political prisoners in
jail, which even the ICRC cannot visit due to objections to the
conditions placed on them.
AABB, based in Mae Sot, Thailand, is one of the few advocacy
groups keeping up with Myanmar prison conditions, primarily basing
its reports on the testimony of relatives of the prisoners.
It's new 22-page report includes detailed information on the
health conditions of some of the better known political activists in
jail.
At least 127 political prisoners are in poor health and require
'urgent' medical treatment, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi, comedian Zarganar, labour activist Su Su Nway and 88
Generation Students leader Min Ko Naing, the report said.
Suu Kyi has been under house detention in Yangon for almost six
years. Her personal doctor Tin Myo Win, one of the few people allowed
to visit her, was arrested Thursday for interrogation after a US
national sneaked in to Suu Kyi's house on Inya Lake by swimming there.
The man, John William Yethaw, 53, was arrested last week while
swimming in Inya Lake after spending three nights in Suu Kyi's
compound.
Suu Kyi, 63, who has been in jail for 13 of the past 19 years, who
reportedly suffering dehydration over the weekend, was not allowed a
visit by her doctor, who is still being interrogated by authorities.
On Monday, however, authorities allowed another doctor, Pyon Mo
Ei, to visit Suu Kyi. Sources said Suu Kyi was weak and required an
intravenous drip.
Most political prisoners have less access to medical treatment
than Suu Kyi, the daughter of Burmese independence hero Aung San.
'Many political prisoners have already died in prison. This has to
stop,' Bo Kyi said.
USA
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