Programs: Science and Policy
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AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program
View Alerts By > Case | Date | Country | Victim
AAAS Human Rights Action Network
| Date: | 4 March 1999 |
| Case Number: | my9327_mat |
| Victim: | Ma Thida |
| Country: | Burma/Myanmar |
| Subject: | Surgeon released |
| Issues: | Freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention; Freedom from inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Right to liberty and security of the person |
| Type of alert: | Update |
| Related alerts: | 12 February 1997; 20 August 1997; 22 October 1997 |
FACTS OF THE CASE:
AAAS is pleased to announced the reported release on 11 February 1999 of Dr. Ma Thida, a Burmese surgeon and former aide to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. According to reports received by Amnesty International, Dr. Ma Thida was pardoned and released on humanitarian grounds. Dr. Ma Thida suffers from endometriosis and other ailments for which she did not receive adequate medical treatment while in detention.
Arrested in 1993 for the peaceful expression of her beliefs and her association with Aung San Suu Kyi, Dr. Ma Thida was among the many health professionals who treated those injured during pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988. She was held in Insein Jail, where she was a prisoner of conscience.
In 1997, Dr. Ma Thida was honored by the Science and Human Rights Program of the AAAS at its Annual Meeting, held that year in Seattle, Washington. She also received the Reebok Human Rights Award in 1996.
No further action is requested.
(Source of information for this update is Amnesty International. Sources of information for previous alerts include Physicians for Human Rights, and the Burma Information Group, as well as local sources.)
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