The world seems to have "forgotten" Mynmar [formerly Burma] post the horrendous floods there and the protest marches principally by monks. The Generals in power have kept a tight clamp on the country's people and those allowed into the country even if only to provide humanitarian aid.
To its credit, the IHT reports on how those who have stepped out of line have been dealt with and an organisation seeking to help them:
"By the time he had contracted tuberculosis, Htay Aung, a dissident jailed for seven years in Myanmar, was incapable of telling prison guards about his condition. He had already lost his voice from the years of exposure to the cold concrete floor that prisoners slept on.
So Htay Aung decided to announce his illness in a more graphic form. He coughed up enough blood to fill a small cup. "When the guard came around I showed him," said Htay Aung, who has now recuperated but whose voice remains raspy. "They transferred me to the leprosy ward."
Htay Aung recently told the story to a reporter and a small group of former political prisoners who have settled in this small Thai city on the border with Myanmar. Many of them work at the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a group that tracks the plight of the more than 2,100 jailed dissidents inside Myanmar and organizes aid for them and their families.
Founded nine years ago, the association has never been busier.
Last year, Myanmar's military government sentenced 410 dissidents to prison terms ranging from a few years to five decades or more. The association lists details of the convictions in its online database, which is widely consulted by diplomats, UN officials and human rights workers. Bo Kyi, the co-founder of the association, says that another 600 dissidents are in detention and have yet to be tried.
Among those convicted last year was an 80-year-old Buddhist nun, Daw Ponnami, who was given four years' hard labor for her involvement in the street demonstrations led by Buddhist monks in September 2007. She has been spared the hard labor, the association says, but in what may be the final insult of her twilight years, Daw Ponnami's conviction was for insulting Buddhism.
Zarganar, a well-known comedian, received 59 years' imprisonment after criticizing the government for neglecting the victims of the cyclone that swept through lower Myanmar in May, killing more than 130,000 people.
U Gambira, a monk who helped lead the 2007 protests, was sentenced to 68 years."
Continue reading here. Isn't it time that the world confronted the despots who rule Myanmar?
To its credit, the IHT reports on how those who have stepped out of line have been dealt with and an organisation seeking to help them:
"By the time he had contracted tuberculosis, Htay Aung, a dissident jailed for seven years in Myanmar, was incapable of telling prison guards about his condition. He had already lost his voice from the years of exposure to the cold concrete floor that prisoners slept on.
So Htay Aung decided to announce his illness in a more graphic form. He coughed up enough blood to fill a small cup. "When the guard came around I showed him," said Htay Aung, who has now recuperated but whose voice remains raspy. "They transferred me to the leprosy ward."
Htay Aung recently told the story to a reporter and a small group of former political prisoners who have settled in this small Thai city on the border with Myanmar. Many of them work at the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a group that tracks the plight of the more than 2,100 jailed dissidents inside Myanmar and organizes aid for them and their families.
Founded nine years ago, the association has never been busier.
Last year, Myanmar's military government sentenced 410 dissidents to prison terms ranging from a few years to five decades or more. The association lists details of the convictions in its online database, which is widely consulted by diplomats, UN officials and human rights workers. Bo Kyi, the co-founder of the association, says that another 600 dissidents are in detention and have yet to be tried.
Among those convicted last year was an 80-year-old Buddhist nun, Daw Ponnami, who was given four years' hard labor for her involvement in the street demonstrations led by Buddhist monks in September 2007. She has been spared the hard labor, the association says, but in what may be the final insult of her twilight years, Daw Ponnami's conviction was for insulting Buddhism.
Zarganar, a well-known comedian, received 59 years' imprisonment after criticizing the government for neglecting the victims of the cyclone that swept through lower Myanmar in May, killing more than 130,000 people.
U Gambira, a monk who helped lead the 2007 protests, was sentenced to 68 years."
Continue reading here. Isn't it time that the world confronted the despots who rule Myanmar?
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