U Win Tin

Win Tin or U Win Tin , born March 12, 1929) is a politician and former political prisoner in Insein Prison, Rangoon,Burma. Arrested in July 1989 because of his senior position in the National League for Democracy (NLD) and for his writings, he spent 19 years in prison.

Win Tin was serving a 20 year sentence on charges including "anti-government propaganda." One of the reasons for his detention is his attempt to inform the United Nations of ongoing human rights violations in Burmese prisons. At 81 years of age, he is in a poor state of health, exacerbated by his treatment in prison, which has included torture, inadequate access to medical treatment, being held in a cell designed for military dogs, without bedding, and being deprived of food and water for long periods of time. He has suffered from multiple ailments including asthma, a hernia and a heart attack.

Since the start of 2006 he had not been able to receive visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

In 2001, Win Tin was awarded the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for his efforts to defend and promote and right to freedom of expression. That year, he was also awarded the World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award.

He was freed on 23 September 2008, after serving 19 years imprisonment; somewhat of a positive coincidence for human rights activists, as they were also seeking a stay of execution in the Troy Davis case, which was granted on the same day as Win Tin's release (this stay, however, was subsequently revoked on 14 October, after a denial of a writ of certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court, and the acquisition of a execution warrant for the 27 October).

After his release from prison Win Tin made efforts to reorganize the NLD. He relaunched the weekly meetings of the party's Central Executive Committee which had been irregularly held since 2003. He also resumed a regular round table called "Youth and Future" which Aung San Suu Kyi has participated in the past. Win Tin visited family members of political prisoners to offer moral support.

(source: wikipedia)

Aung San Suu Kyi is the hero of Burma; U Win Tin is the heart of Burma.....



Related article

1. A conversation with U Win Tin , http://www.mizzima.com/edop/interview/3405-a-conversation-with-u-win-tin.html