NLD Insists Suu Kyi Must Get Chance to Vote on May 10

By SAW YAN NAING
Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, has called on the regime to make sure political detainees, including NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, can vote in the constitutional referendum on May 10.

The referendum states that detainees who have not been convicted are allowed to cast their votes in the referendum. But NLD spokesman Nyan Win told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday the party was still worried that political prisoners may find themselves disenfranchised.

An NLD statement issued on Monday called on the authorities to compile lists of detainees who had not been convicted and to make sure they were allowed to vote. Some prisons had begun compiling lists, he said.

Win Maung, father of detainee Pyone Cho, a member of the 88 Generation Students group, said the authorities running Rangoon’s Insein Prison had collected the names of unconvicted political prisoners there, including members of the 88 Generation Students group.

More than 30 members of the 88 Generation Students group, including its well-known leaders Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kywe and Min Zeya, are being held in Insein prison, said Tate Naing, secretary of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), AAPP.

They were arrested in August 2007 while demonstrating against sharp increases in the prices of fuel and other essentials.

Many are reported to be in ill health. The latest to arouse serious concern is
Su Su Nway, a prominent woman activist, winner of the John Humphrey Freedom Award 2006, who suffers from a heart condition.

Min Ko Naing, leader of the 88 Generation Students group, is reported to be at risk of losing the sight of one eye because of an infection that the prison authorities refuse to allow to be properly treated.

Another member of the 88 Generation Students group, Hla Myo Naung, and NLD member Than Lwin are also suffering from eye infections, according to Tate Naing.

Than Lwin, who won his constituency in the 1990 election, was attacked by pro-junta thugs wearing steel knuckledusters in June 2007 as he returned home from a pagoda in Madaya Township, where he had been praying for the release of Suu Kyi.

The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) says it has received lists of prisoners, including monks and nuns, who are suffering from serious ailments in Burmese jails. It called for proper medical attention for the sick prisoners.

The AHRC also called on the Burmese authorities to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross access to Burma’s prisons, under the terms of its mandate.

The AAPP estimates that there are 1,864 political prisoners in Burmese prisons.


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