Statement, December 8, 2001

On Human Rights' Day, December 10, 1991, as National League for Democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in abstentia for her efforts to restore democracy in Burma. She was unable to accept the award in person as she was under house arrest in Rangoon. On the same day, some university students lit a fire during a peaceful demonstration at the Rangoon Arts and Science University to show their support for Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. They also called for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all students being detained for their participation in previous demonstrations.

However on that day the Junta, once again, lived up to its barbaric and violent reputation. When they finally descended upon the demonstrators, hundreds of students were forcibly rounded up, beaten and thrown in jail ending yet another peaceful protest in utter violence. The students who were arrested that day were severely beaten and tortured in the interrogation center of the Military Intelligence (MI).

After three months of mental and physical abuse, the military tribunals, organized solely for political activists after the 1988 uprising, handed down sentences from ten-to- twenty years to all of the 136 students arrested that day, including a number of female students. Among them, some have already been released but some are still in prison even though they have served their sentences.

Each year the United Nations resolution (see Resolution 217A (III) ) urges the junta to free all the political prisoners and to let the members of the NLD to operate freely as political party.

Nevertheless the junta is still committing arbitrary arrests, forced labor, torture, inhumane treatment and denial of freedom of speech, expression and movement. Even though the junta recently released a number of detainees and political prisoners in order to placate the international community, they still detain a large number of political prisoners under Article 10(A). This allows the Military Junta to extend the prisoners period of detention for a further period of five years without trial after their original sentence has been completed. The Minister of Home Affairs and Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission in Burma, Colonel Tin Hlaing, justifies this policy by stating that those held under Article 10(A) are still considered a security threat to the Military regime.

We therefore condemn the current ruling junta in Burma and call for the imediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi, and for the immediate release of all political prisoners. We strongly urge the junta to free these people immediately -- not only because they should never have been arrested in the first place, but also because it would build international and domestic confidence in the ongoing talks between the NLD and the Military regime. We also request the international community to stop dealing with the current Military junta until they release ALL political prisoners.

Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)