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ABSDF: NLD MP Dies



Media Release
August 14, 1998

NLD Member of Parliament Dies in Prison

National League for Democracy (NLD) representative U Saw Win, who
was elected to parliament in the 1990 election, died on August 7
from unknown reasons in Thayawaddy Prison, 200 kilometres north
of Rangoon. 

U Saw Win (a.k.a. U Kyaw Zaw Lin) was from Htilin Township in
Chin State and was 61 years old. He was arrested in 1991 for
allegedly failing to transport logs in time while working on the
construction of the Rangoon-Thanlyin Bridge. He was given ten
years imprisonment under the Public Property Protection Act and
an additional one-year imprisonment under Section 5(j) of the
1950 Emergency Provision Act.

U Saw Win's body was cremated in secret by military authorities
two days after his death on August 9, without the knowledge or
presence of his family. 

U Saw Win is the third NLD Member of Parliament to die in prison.
U Tin Maung Win (Rangoon Division) died in 1991 and U Hla Than
(Rangoon Division) died in 1996. U Saw Win's death also comes six
months after the death in prison of Rangoon NLD Organising
Committee member U Thein Tin. 

U Saw Win's son, Sa Lai Yaw Aung (a.k.a. Aung Aung Min), a
Central Committee member of the ABSDF, said his father worked
tirelessly for democracy and human rights in Burma.

"I'm very sad I wasn't able to see my father one last time and
listen to what he would have to say to me. I'm also sad I wasn't
able to attend his funeral," he said. "Although its is probable
more people will die or be killed under the military regime, I
hope my father will be the last one to give his life for
democracy in Burma," he added.

The ABSDF strongly condemns Burma's military regime for the
deaths in custody of political prisoners, and demands the
authorities allow the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) access to prisons across the country.

"The ABSDF is deeply shocked at the news of U Saw Win's untimely
death, and we demand to know the circumstances surrounding his
death," said Aung Naing Oo, ABSDF Foreign Affairs Secretary. "U
Saw Win's death is a great loss to the struggle of democracy and
human rights in Burma," he added.

The Election Commission dismissed U Saw Win as a Member of
Parliament on 12 December 1991. The military regime twice
promised to release U Saw Win from prison, once in 1992 and again
in 1995, but they failed to do so. U Saw Win graduated in Science
from Rangoon University and in 1965 began working as a newspaper
journalist. He later became an Assistant Editor at the Botahtaung
newspaper and also worked for a government publishing house.

All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF)

For further information please call 01 654 4984, 01 253 9082.