Students try to free Burmese prisoner ( Red and Black ) University of Geogia


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Students try to free Burmese prisoner

By AMY LEIGH WOMACK
source : Red and Black (University of Georgia)-Published , December 10, 2002

The Student Government Association and the campus chapter of Amnesty International are making efforts to get a University alumnus released from a Burmese prison.

The University's chapter of Amnesty International has passed a resolution supporting the release of Salai Tun Than, 74, in response to efforts made by the Free Burma Coalition located in Washington, D.C., said Kate Vyborny, co-director of the University's chapter and a sophomore from Raleigh, N.C.

She said Amnesty International and other campus organizations have taken interest in Tun Than's case because of his ties to the University and in light of the success of another university in getting a professor released. "Because he attended the University, we have very close ties to him," Vyborny said.

She said Tun Than earned a bachelor's degree in Burma and then came to the University to complete a master of science in agronomy degree.After graduating with his master's in 1955, Tun Than attended the University of Wisconsin, where he completed a doctoral degree, Vyborny said.

She said a university in Vermont recently was successful in freeing a former professor."We're trying to replicate that experience," Vyborny said.

Additionally, a resolution encouraging the government of Burma to release Tun Than, and calling on Georgia's elected leaders to work for Tun Than's release, was passed by SGA at its Dec. 3 Senate meeting, said Brendan Murphy, chair of SGA's External Affairs Committee and a sophomore from Forsyth County.

"It passed with only one dissenting vote," he said. "Other organizations on campus have passed similar bills, so we thought it was appropriate."

Tun Than was arrested by the Burmese military regime in December 2001 for peacefully handing out pro- democracy leaflets in front of the Rangoon City Hall, according to the Free Burma Coalition Web site (www.freeburmacoalition.org).

The leaflets allegedly called for a multiparty general election within one year, an interim government to hold the election and a transfer of state power to whoever won the election without any conditions attached, according to the site.

General elections have been held in the past, but the military regime has refused to leave office, according to reports made by the local newspaper, the Irrawaddy News (www.irrawaddy.org).

Prior to his arrest, Tun Than was a retired professor from the Yezin University of Agriculture in Pyinmana, according to the Irrawaddy Web site.

"We're really excited abut this," Vyborny said. "We really do believe we can make a difference in (Tun Than's) case."

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