UNESCO Exec Lauds Release of Ex-Newspaper Editor from Myanmar Jail

Posted Tuesday, September 23, 2008 12:00 am

By: E&P Staff UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura today expressed "immense joy" over the release by Myanmar authorities of former newspaper editor U Win Tin after 19 years in prison.

"In freeing U Win Tin and other prisoners, the authorities have taken a wise and positive step towards respecting the fundamental human right of freedom of expression," said Matsuura in a statement.

The 79-year-old U Win Tin is the former editor of the daily Hanthawati newspaper, vice chair of Myanmar's Writers' Association, and a founder of the National League for Democracy, which is led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who's still under house arrest.

U Win Tin -- the 2001 winner of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize -- was arrested in July 1989 and accused of belonging to the banned Communist Party of Myanmar. Sentenced to 14 years jail, he received an additional five years in 1996 for breaking prison regulations prohibiting the possession of writing materials.

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UNESCO Exec Lauds Release of Ex-Newspaper Editor from Myanmar Jail

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