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Thet Win Aung dies in prison
Tue 17 Oct 2006,
Banyol Kin, IMNA
 Ko Thet Win Aung (34) died of illness yesterday in Mandalay prison. The Amnesty International has urged the State Peace and Development Council to take urgent steps to protect the health of all prisoners’.
“The organization has called on the authorities to initiate a prompt, independent investigation into the causes of Ko Thet Win Aung’s death and to make the findings public,” Amnesty said.
Ko Thet Win Aung had been imprisoned since 1998 for his involvement in organizing peaceful small scale student demonstrations which called for improvements in the educational system in Burma and for the release of political prisoners.
He had recovered since last month but when he heard that his brother Ko Pyone Cho was arrested he became upset. Ko Thet Win Aung’s father told BBC radio’s Burmese service.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) general secretary Ko Take Naing said, “We heard last month that he was in better health but now we don’t know what happened? It was very quick. One thing is sure there is an acute lack of medical treatment for political prisoners in Burma’s prisons Ko Theit Win Aung is the fifth political prisoner to die in 2006”
A former political prisoner said if political prisoners are ill or suffering there are no doctors and medicines. Only the prison doctor comes and checks.
Amnesty International urged the SPDC to ensure that the authorities take all necessary steps to ensure that the basic rights of prisoners are upheld and their health is not jeopardized further.
“As a matter of urgency prisoners should have access to adequate diet and health care. Access to specialist medical treatment should not be denied. Torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment must be stopped – both in custody and in prison” it said.
There are over 1,100 political prisoners in Burma according AAPP’s research.
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