Myanmar Frees Dissident Writer Jail

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Subject: Myanmar Frees Dissident Writer Jailed Since 1993

Myanmar Frees Dissident Writer Jailed Since 1993
01:31 a.m. Feb 12, 1999 Eastern
YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government says it has freed a
dissident writer it jailed in 1993 for distributing anti-government
leaflets.

Ma Thida, 34, a close associate of Nobel Peace Prize-winning opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was sentenced to 20 years in jail in October 1993
under Myanmar's Emergency Provisions Act.

A government statement said she had been pardoned and released Thursday on
``humanitarian grounds'' but did not elaborate.

The announcement came as Myanmar faces heightened pressure to improve its
human rights record, which is jeopardizing a ministerial meeting between the
Association of South East Asian Nations and the European Union planned in
Berlin next month.

EU member states want the level of Myanmar's representation at the meeting
to reflect concern about what Britain called an ''appalling human rights and
political situation.''

Senior government officials in Myanmar are banned from entering the European
Union because of the human rights issue. This rule bars Foreign Minster Win
Aung from attending the meeting.

Concern over Myanmar's treatment of its pro-democracy opposition has mounted
in recent weeks.

Diplomats in Yangon said they considered ``credible'' reports from Burmese
pro-democracy groups based in Thailand that some 270 political activists had
been sentenced last month to prison terms ranging from seven to 52 years.

Last year, the government detained hundreds of members of Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy (NLD) after the party called for the convening
of a parliament elected at the country's last general election in 1990.

The NLD won the election by a landslide, but the military refused to honor
the result, saying the country was not ready for democracy.