Burma's longest-serving political prisoner released
U Win Tin, 78, released from Burma prison after 19 years
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Wednesday, 24, Sep 2008 09:42
A 78-year-old journalist and prominent dissident who was the longest-serving political prisoner in Burma has been released after 19 years of incarceration.
U Win Tin, who was one of the longest-serving prisoners of conscience in the country, is a senior official in the main opposition party - the National League for Democracy (NLD) - led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
He is one of seven prisoners of conscience to have been released today who are NLD members, while four others were MPs-elect from the 1990 elections – won by the NLD.
Amnesty International's Burma researcher, Benjamin Zawacki, said: "While the release of U Win Tin and his fellow prisoners is certainly the best news to come out of Burma for a long time, unfortunately they don't even represent one per cent of the political prisoners there.
"These seven people should never have been imprisoned in the first place, and there are many, many more who should also be released."
The announcement comes amid hope from Amnesty International in Burma that as many as 9,000 additional prisoners could be released in the lead-up to national elections in 2010.
And Benjamin Zawacki added: "Prisoners of conscience, like those released today, are exactly what the term says - people sent to prison simply because of what they believe, and the peaceful actions they take because of those beliefs.
"They have done nothing wrong and we call for their immediate and unconditional release."