Burma should release thousands of prisoners : Pinheiro

Pinheiro returned to military-ruled Burma after four years to make an assessment on the human rights situation after the bloody protest in September, in which a score of protesters died and thousands were detained.

The UN Repporteur, however, did not offer a timeframe when the detainees should be released.

"I cannot impose any timeframe on that issue. I think even my dear colleague Ibrahim Gambari (UN Special envoy on Burma) has not imposed any timeframe. I have a very humble mandate," he told a press briefing in Bangkok yesterday.  

Pinheiro will compile a report to submit to the UN Human Rights Council by December 11, about his findings during his trip. The report, he said, would contain the number of casualties and detainees as a result of the bloody crackdown.

The number of deaths provided by the Burmese government was only 14  excluding a Japanese journalist. The 14 corpses have already been cremated and no monks were included, he said.

The number of deaths varied from dozens up to thousands, but Pinheiro said he would determine and comply all the data from various sources into his report within two weeks.

The number of detainees from many sources was also different, he said, and noted the Burmese representative at the UN said there we 2,775 detainees, while the ministry of home affairs said that 2,900 had already been released.

A former government technical college that was used during the protest as a detention facility took in 1,900 in just a few days, Pinheiro said.

The government has admitted that it detained less than 3,000 protestors.

During his visit to Insein Prison, Pinheiro met five political prisoners including Win Tin, the oldest political prisoner who was sentenced to 18 years, along with Su Su Nway, a prominent activist who was arrested on Wednesday, and Min Zeya and Than Tin  both '8888' generation students who were involved in the uprising in August 1988.

The UN official was not allowed to see opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has spent 12 years under house arrest out of 18 years in Rangoon. The government would allow him to see her during his next visit, but gave no hint when that might be.

Shortly after Pinheiro finished his visit to Insein jail on Thursday, the government released 53 people, but only six were political prisoners.

by Supalak G Khundee

The Nation