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Press Statement: No More Burmese Bl



Press Release		Embargoed for the 26th February, 1998

NO MORE BURMESE BLOOD ON THAI HANDS!

Protect San Naing!


San Naing, a Burmese prisoner in Thailand accused of involvement in the
attempt to assassinate SPDC's ruling military intelligence chief, Lt. Gen.
Khin Nyunt in 1993, is due to be released from Bangkhen Special Prison, Ngam
Wong Wan Road, on Friday the 27th February at 7pm. San Naing has been
serving a prison sentence in Thailand for illegal possession of weapons and
is seeking protection from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), who have been reluctant to grant refugee status to him whilst in
prison. San Naing is a former Burmese student who remains committed to the
pro-democracy movement, but who has renounced the use of former methods.

Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB), along with a large
number of Thai and regional human rights advocates, is concerned that San
Naing will be released into the hands of Burmese 'government'
representatives on Friday, or that he is at risk of deportation from
Thailand as an illegal immigrant. 

San Naing has publicly stated he was visited four times by Burmese officials
in Bangkhen prison throughout June and July of  1997. He recounted how they
had tried to persuade him to go home by showing video footage of his
distressed mother.

The deepening relationship between the Thai government and Rangoon's
military regime, despite the recent changes in the government of both
countries, gives further cause for alarm. The level of cooperation between
the Thai and Burmese governments on such matters remains unknown.

TACDB urges the Thai government to make provisions for the personal safety
of San Naing and recognize that the Thai population, being a kind and
tolerant population, share these same concerns over his safety. Thai
government complicity in some of the many human rights violations suffered
by Burmese people must be acknowledged. Additionally, Thailand's treatment
of people who have fled human rights violations in Burma must be
significantly improved. 

TACDB calls for protection of San Naing  because there has been enough
Burmese blood on Thailand's hands. 

Contact Adisorn Kerdmongkol on (+662) 216 4463 for further information or
for a Thai language version of this statement.
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Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB)
328 Phayathai Road
Rajthevee
Bangkok 10400
THAILAND
tel/fax: (+662) 216 4463
email: tacdb@xxxxxxxxxx
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