|
Reporters Without Borders Welcomes Release of Burmese Journalist VOA News 14 Feb 2002 13:15 UTC 
The media rights group Reporters Without Borders is welcoming the release of a Burmese journalist who spent 12 years in a Burmese prison.
But the rights group expresses regret that Myo Myint Nyein was not released earlier, in view of what Reporters Without Borders describes as the serious deterioration in his physical and mental health.
Myo Myint Nyein was freed Wednesday, two years before the end of his term. He was jailed for seven years in 1990 for publishing a poem criticizing the military government, and was given another seven years in 1995 for writing a letter to the U.N. about harsh prison conditions.
Reports Without Borders says he was never given proper treatment in jail for psychological and stomach ailments that plagued him during his years in a filthy cell.
He was freed along with four members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. The move coincided with the 10 day visit to Burma of U.N. human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro.
Some information for this report provided by AP.
|