Burma Military Junta Continues To Arrest Activists

Press release: Terry Evans

5 October 2008

Despite last month's release of 9,000 prisoners, including a handful of political detainees, Burma's military junta continues to arrest pro-democracy activists.

Last week Ohn Kyaing, a journalist and prominent political ally of the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was arrested at his Rangoon home.

He was previously arrested in September 1990 by Burma's notorious Military Intelligence, and was subsequently jailed for 15 years for "writing and distributing seditious pamphlets". Ohn Kyaing won a seat in the parliamentary elections in 1990 that were annulled by the Burmese generals.

The reason for his recent arrest is still unknown, but Ohn Kyaing had been involved in efforts to help the survivors of cyclone Nargis.

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