Arrests Continue Despite Pinheiro’s Visit

Three Burmese dissidents, including civil rights champion Su Su Nway, were arrested in Rangoon on Tuesday morning, according to reliable sources. Two activist monks who took part in the September demonstrations were also arrested by authorities earlier this month.

Brazilian Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the United Nations human rights envoy to

Burma

[Photo: Reuters]

The two monks included U Gambira, leader of the Alliance of All Burma Buddhist Monks, which played a significant role in the September demonstrations. He had been in hiding since the demonstrations were violently suppressed by the authorities. Members of his family were then arrested for maintaining contact with him.

The second monk was identified as U Kaythara.

Their arrest was confirmed by the 88 Generation Students group, many of whose members were also arrested during and after the demonstrations.

One group member, Soe Tun, said the two arrested monks were being held in a special section of Insein jail called the “separated prison,” reserved for political prisoners.

“We have learned that the monks were arrested early this month,” Soe Tun told The Irrawaddy.

“We are hearing of a continuing crackdown and arrests rather than reconciliation. If the ruling junta wants national reconciliation it must end the crackdown and arrests.”

In a telephone interview with The Irrawaddy in October, U Gambira said: “The crisis in Burma today is a conflict between justice and injustice. When light comes to Burma, all [unjust acts] will be gone. We all must be united.”

The other arrested activists, Su Su Nway and two companions, were seized as they were pasting anti-regime posters on a billboard in downtown Rangoon, sources close to Su Su Nway told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.

Su Su Nway had been in hiding since the protests against the junta’s increased fuel prices in August, although she managed to continue pro-democracy activities clandestinely.

The 36-year-old labor activist has been arrested twice before. She was first arrested in 2004 when she tried to sue village authorities over forced labor.

In 2006, Su Su Nway received the Humphrey Freedom Award from the Canada-based Rights and Democracy group for her human rights work in Burma.

The three were arrested as the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, began his mission to inquire into the September demonstrations and the plight of detainees.

He visited Insein prison and a Rangoon monastery on Tuesday, and then traveled to the Burmese capital, Naypyidaw, for talks with government officials.

Tate Naing of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said arrests were continuing even as Pinheiro was trying to determine the fate of detainees. Prisoners had been released before his arrival “just for show,” while “important detainees” remained locked up, he said.