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MYANMAR: AMNESTY CONDEMNS NEW ROUND



Subject: MYANMAR: AMNESTY CONDEMNS NEW ROUND OF MASS ARRESTS

AI INDEX: ASA 16/18/97
21 MAY 1997

MYANMAR: AMNESTY CONDEMNS NEW ROUND OF MASS ARRESTS

Amnesty International today condemned the arrest of at least 50 National
League for Democracy
(NLD) leaders by the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)
 over the past few
days. The human rights organization called for their immediate and
unconditional release.

     NLD leaders from around the country were arrested while travelling to
the house of party
leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon to attend a meeting to celebrate the
seventh anniversary
of their election victory on 27 May 1990.

     "The SLORC is bent on crushing the peaceful activities of a party
which won more than
80% of the seats in the 1990 general election," Amnesty International said.
 "Last year was the
worst year for human rights since the government annulled the elections.
Now the SLORC seems
determined to eliminate the party altogether."

     "All governments, but particularly the Association of South East Asian
 Nations (ASEAN)
-- which is expected to admit Myanmar as a member this year -- should
protest to the SLORC in
the strongest possible terms about these arrests and pressure the
government to improve its human
rights record. These latest arrests yet again demonstrate that for all the
emphasis placed on
constructive engagement by Myanmar's regional neighbours, the SLORC is as
repressive as
ever."

     Some 200 members of parliament-elect and 100 party organizers were
invited to the
meeting. Leaders from Sagaing, Ayeyarwady and Mandalay Divisions have been
picked up, but
none from Yangon have yet been detained. However Amnesty International
fears that the
authorities will arrest all 300 of these participants.

     The move came one day after the USA signed into law economic sanctions
 which would
prevent any new US businesses from operating in Myanmar. US officials have
stated that
sanctions were invoked because of the deteriorating human rights situation
there.

     During 1996 over 2,000 people were arrested, the vast majority of them
 NLD supporters
-- including hundreds of students and NLD members who were arrested
following the forcible
suppression of peaceful student demonstrations in December.  Although many
of these people
have been released, dozens have been sentenced to long terms of
imprisonment.

     In early 1997, over 40 NLD members and students imprisoned in Insein
Jail were moved
to prisons in remote parts of the country, preventing them from receiving
any family assistance.
Several of these, including U Win Htein and other prisoners of conscience,
are suffering from
poor health as a result of prison conditions. Since September 1996, any
public gatherings in front
of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's house have been forbidden.  She and other senior
party leaders are
subjected to surveillance, restriction of movement, and other forms of
intimidation
 .../ENDS


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