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Burmese dissident dies in Prison
Irrawaddy - December 24, 2009
Ba Kaung – Tin Tin Htwe, who was arrested during the 2007 Saffron Revolution, died in Insein Prison hospital on Wednesday night, according to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma (AAPP), a Thailand-based organization working for the rights of political prisoners in Burma..
Tin Tin Htwe, 38, from Bahan Township in Rangoon, reportedly died of a heart condition.
Her neighborhood, located within a kilometer east of Shwedagon Pagoda, was the scene of the first deadly crackdown during the Saffron Revolution when security forces fired on Buddhist monks.
She was arrested on Sept. 26, 2007, accused with 14 others of hurling stones at riot police. She was charged under sections 332 (hindering public servants from carrying out their duties) and 294 (obscene acts and songs in public), and released on bail. In November 2008 she was sentenced to three years and three months with hard labor, according to AAPP.
She was incarcerated in Pegu Division's Tharrawaddy Prison in 2008 before her recent transfer to Rangoon's Insein Prison hospital due to her deteriorating health.
The healthcare system in Burma's prisons is notoriously inefficient. "There are not enough medications in prison hospitals. There is no timely response to prisoners' health problems," said Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of AAPP.
Two other political prisoners also died in 2009 – Salai Hla Moe, a member of the National League for Democracy, and Saw Cha Leik, a member of Karen National Union, who died in Myingyan and Thayet prisons respectively.
Tin Tin Htwe's death increased the number of political prisoners who have died in Burma's prisons to 143 since 1988.
According to AAPP, her body was moved on Wednesday night to her family home in Bahan and was to be cremated the following day.
A total of 2,173 political prisoners are being held in prisons throughout Burma. The military government stopped allowing visits of International Committee for the Red Cross personnel to prisons in 2005.
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