Burmese Activist Writes Open Letter to Ban Ki-moon

by Lalit K. Jha / United Nations

October 16, 2007

A senior Burmese activist, based in Washington, wrote an open letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Monday, bringing to his notice the arrest and subsequent torture of members of the 88 Generation Students Group inside Burma.

Providing a list of 26 members of the group who have been arrested and are now being tortured by the junta, activist Aung Din urged Ban Ki-Moon to telephone Burma’s Snr-Gen Than Shwe to demand the immediate cessation of the ongoing torture, hunting and arresting of those leaders.

Aung Din is policy director of the US Campaign for Burma and was recently invited by a key congressional panel to testify on the current situation in Burma.

“Than Shwe is currently carrying out a dragnet, arresting and imprisoning thousands of democracy activists inside the country,” he alleged and referred to the numerous credible reports received by him about those arrested and the ongoing cruel and severe torture.

Observing that the cruelty of the military regime also directly contradicts calls from the UN Human Rights Commission, the UN General Assembly and the Secretary General himself, Aung Din asked: “How can there be negotiations in Burma when the military regime continues to arrest and torture those with whom they should be talking?”

Welcoming the statement of Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Envoy on Burma, that condemned the military rulers, Aung Din said that the severity and immediacy of the torture inside Burma necessitates a call for action by the UN Secretary-General.

“We are calling on you to immediately and personally intervene with Than Shwe to call for a cessation of the ongoing torture and arbitrary arrests. We greatly fear for the lives and well-being of the 88 Generation Students members,” he said.

He alleged that the security forces use beatings, electric shocks to all parts of the body, “water torture”, running iron rods up and down the shins, and the cutting and burning of flesh as torture methods.

Aung Din feared that the military government appears to be offering the possibility of talks with Aung San Suu Kyi in order to buy time to torture and murder other activists.