AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

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FACTS OF THE CASE:

On 29 November 2001, Military Intelligence Service officers detained Dr. Salai Tun Than, the 74-year-old retired rector of Yezin University. He was arrested after he staged a one-man protest and distributed a petition in front of the Rangoon government building. The petition called for democratic elections in Burma.

Dr. Salai holds a Ph.D. in Agronomy from the University of Wisconsin. He led a distinguished career as an entomologist and professor of agronomy since the 1950s. He has served on the boards of several professional organizations, including the Academic Board of the Institute of Agriculture, Burma Agriculture Research Council, and the Regional Colleges Technical Agriculture Curriculum Board.

Since the 1950s, Dr. Salai has also been an advocate for social justice programs for the Chin people, an ethnic and religious minority in northwestern Burma. After retiring from the University in 1993, he established the Myanmar Integrated Rural Development Association (MIRDA), which is a non-governmental organization that supports the development of sustainable agriculture training programs in northwestern Burma. The military has been suspicious of the foreign support for MIRDA, which receives funds and support from the Mennonite Central Committee, World Council of Churches, and the government of Switzerland. The government has prevented foreign donors from visiting training sights and has destroyed MIRDA orchards. The government also prohibited Dr. Salai from conducting training programs through MIRDA.

Dr. Salai is currently being held in Insein Prison in Rangoon, a prison notorious for torture and ill treatment. His family did not know his whereabouts for two weeks after he was detained and has not been allowed to visit him.

Burma has been under military dictatorship since 1962. In the late 1980s, the ruling military junta, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), made some concessions to the pro-democracy movement, including the right to form independent political parties. Burma held relatively open elections in 1990, during which voters overwhelmingly supported the opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). The NLD, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won more than 60 percent of the popular vote and 80 percent of the parliamentary seats. However, the SPDC has not allowed the elected representatives to convene parliament. The SPDC has conducted a brutal campaign against its opponents, imprisoning politicians, student activists, academics, writers, journalists, lawyers, trade unionists, and even comedians who have spoken out against the government.

According to the 2001 Human Rights Watch report on Burma, there were some indications last year that the human rights situation was improving. The government released some political prisoners and eased its pressure tactics against opposition politicians in Rangoon. Despite these limited gains, the year ended with no fundamental change in law or policy and over 1,000 political prisoners remain in prison for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association.

(Sources of information for this case include: Asian Human Rights Commission, Human Rights Watch, and Derechos Human Rights.)

RELEVANT HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

• Article 12: (1): The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. (2): The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for: (c) The prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases; (d) The creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Article 05: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
• Article 09: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send faxes, letters, or emails:

• Expressing your concern about the arrest of Dr. Salai Than Tun, as it appears that was arrested for peacefully exercising his freedom of expression and association;
• Urging that Dr. Salai be allowed immediate access to his family and lawyer;
• Urging the government to assure that Dr. Salai will not be ill treated or tortured while in detention; and
• Requesting that he be immediately released unless he is charged with a recognizably criminal offense.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt
Secretary-1
State Peace and Development Council
Ministry of Defence
Signal Pagoda Rd
Yangon, MYANMAR
Fax: 011 (951) 22950
Salutation: Dear General

U Win Aung
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Yangon, MYANMAR
mofa.aung@mptmail.net.mm
Salutation: The Honorable U Win Aung

COPIES SENT TO:

Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais des Nations, 8-14 Avenue de la Paix,
CH 1211 Geneve, SWITZERLAND
Fax: 011 41 22 917 0213
secrt.hchr@unog.ch (Put ATTN: MR. PINHEIRO in the
Salutation: Dear Mr. Pinheiro

Ambassador U Linn Myaing
Ambassador of Myanmar to the United States
Embassy of Myanmar
2300 S Street, NW
Washington D.C. 20008
Fax: (202) 332-9046
Salutation: Dear Mr. Ambassador

Please send copies of your appeals, and any responses you may receive, or direct any questions you may have to Victoria Baxter, AAAS Science and Human Rights Program, 1200 New York Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20005; tel. 202-326-6797; email vbaxter@aaas.org; or fax 202-289-4950.

The keys to effective appeals are to be courteous and respectful, accurate and precise, impartial in approach, and as specific as possible regarding the alleged violation and the international human rights standards and instruments that apply to the situation. Reference to your scientific organization and professional affiliation is always helpful.

To ensure that appeals are current and credible, please do not continue to write appeals on this case after 90 days from the date of the posting unless an update has been issued.

To verify the contents of this alert and/or the electronic signature, please download the signed file for this alert along with the Program's PGP Public Key.

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