Burma Liar SPDC– Amnesty International

DVB - December 23, 2003

Human rights abuses by Burma’s military junta, the SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) have worsened and there had been a large upsurge in political detentions since notorious May 30 Dipeyin incident, through arbitrary arrests and the application of ‘repressive’ legislation, said two delegates of Amnesty International (AI) who had just returned from a 17-day visit to the country at a news conference in Bangkok on 22 December.

Amnesty said there was a major contradiction between the fine words coming from Rangoon and what was happening in practice on the ground inside Burma.

"There needs to be a determined effort on the ground to match the words with action and the most concrete example of that would be the release of all prisoners of conscience," said Amnesty's deputy director for Asia, Catherine Baber.

Recent pledges by the Burmese military government of so-called "road map" to democracy, and promises of a national convention and new constitution, have been welcomed by the international community, the United Nations, the British government and regional leaders.

The Amnesty delegates were refused permission to meet pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since May.

Catherine Baber called on the SPDC the general amnesty of Burmese political prisoners and urged the international community to keep up the pressure for concrete action to match the rhetoric from Rangoon.

There are more than 1300 political prisoners languishing in Burmese prisons, many of them are imprisoned without trial and some are detained beyond their release dates.