Independent Pen Organization (Burma)- IPO&
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)-AAPP
November 8, 2001

We are very pleased to announce that Myo Myint Nyein, a Burmese political prisoner and journalist, has been awarded the fourth annual International Press Freedom Awards of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE). He will share the honor with another journalist.
Myo Myint Nyein, 49, was one of the editors of Pay-Phu-Lwar, a monthly magazine, between 1981 and 1990. He was also a member of the Information Unit for the National League for Democracy which was founded in 1988 and won a landslide victory in 1990 election. However, it has not been allowed to govern.
In 1990, the military government sentenced Myo Myint Nyein to seven-years in prison for "organizing youths and students to create instability" after he distributed a poem titled What's Happening to Us?. When his prison sentence was about to expire on March 28, 1996, he was sentenced to another seven years. The justification for this sentence was his involvement with the "Press Freedom Movement", a group of journalists serving in Rangoon's Insein prison.
Myo Myint Nyein is not be able to attend the award ceremony, as he remains in prison in Burma, which has been ruled by military dictators since 1988.
The CJFE award recognizes journalists who have demonstrated a commitment to freedom of expression and who have overcome enormous odds to produce the news. The selection of Myo Myint Nyein profiles the Burmese military's willingness to put journalists and writers in prisons for their belief and expression.
We would like to thank the CJFE for the award as it also highlights the terrible condition of the political prisoners in Burma. We also would like to thank the people and organizations that nominated co-winner Myo Myint Nyein for the International Press Freedom Awards of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression.
Independent Pen Organization (Burma)
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)

Independent Pen Organization (Burma)
PO Box 51, Mae Sod, Tak Province, 63110, Thailand
Phone & Fax: (66 55) 545 519

Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)
PO Box 93, Mae Sod, Tak Province, 63110, Thailand
Phone & Fax: (66 55) 547 486