| Home > South-East Asia >> Burma | |
Release political prisoners before election: Ban
Irrawaddy - October 7, 2010
Lalit K. Jha, Washington – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged the Burmese military junta to hold a "credible and inclusive" election and to free all political prisoners before the election, scheduled for Nov. 7.
"This election is going to be the first ever in 20 years," Ban said. "I have been urging and stating publicly that this election must be conducted in a transparent and inclusive and credible manner, with all political prisoners freed before the election."
"That's what I have conveyed – a strong message to Myanmar [Burma]; that's what I am going to continue to press," Ban told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.
On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting, Ban said he had a number of meetings with leaders in the region including those from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) countries, besides meeting the Burmese foreign minister.
"I have had very close meetings, consultations with the countries concerned. During the General Assembly, I had a meeting with the 10 Asean foreign ministers," Ban said. He also had a meeting with the prime minister of Thailand and Burma was an issue of discussion.
"During all my interactions with those Asean and other key member states, an inclusive and transparent election is a high priority," Ban said in response to a question.
Meanwhile, at the US State Department, spokesman P J Crowley said there is no sign that the elections would be free and fair. The US has said the election lacks international credibility.
In Geneva, Mexican Sen. Rosario Green, the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, urged the Burmese regime to immediately release 12 lawmakers from jail before the November elections.
In her report to the IPU Council, Green said in a about one month the citizens of Burma will take part in elections, the first in 20 years. "This should be a reason for joy, but it is not," she said.
"In Bangkok, the IPU called on the Myanmar authorities to do everything possible to ensure inclusive, free and fair elections. There are currently 2,100 political prisoners still waiting for their release. This includes the 12 parliamentarians whose cases are being examined by the IPU and who remain imprisoned for merely having exercised their freedom of expression," Green said.
"They have all been sentenced on the basis of legal proceedings which blatantly disregarded their right to a fair trial. They are not the only ones, however, who are excluded from the political process," she said.
Green said in the past, the committee examined many other cases of parliamentarians in Burma who ended up in prison for speaking their minds.
"None of them can stand in the elections, because all those who have been the subject of a conviction are automatically disqualified." Green said.
See also:
 |