AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

FACTS OF THE CASE:

AAAS is concerned Dr. Ma Thida, a Burmese surgeon and writer. She was arrested in 1993 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for the nonviolent expression of her beliefs and her association with Nobel Peace Price winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, one of the founders of Myanmar's main political opposition party. Dr. Ma Thida is reportedly being held in solitary confinement and is not being provided adequate medical treatment for tuberculosis and ovarian tumors requiring surgery. According to Amnesty International, living conditions in the prison often amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Dr. Ma Thida was among the many health professionals who treated those injured during pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988, which often resulted in violence. In 1996 she was awarded the Reebok Human Rights Award and AAAS Science and Human Rights Program will honor her at the 1997 AAAS Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington.

The arbitrary detention and continued imprisonment of Dr. Ma Thida and the denial of adequate medical treatment constitute serious violations of international human rights standards, including basic protections provided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted without opposition by the United Nations in 1948. These include:

• the right to liberty and security of the person (Article 3);
• the right to freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (Article 5);
• the right to freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile (Article 9);
• the right to free expression (Article 19); and
• the right to free association (Article 20).

(Sources of information on this case include Amnesty International, Physicians for Human Rights, and Burma Information Group.)

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send telexes, telegrams, faxes, or airmail letters:

• expressing concern about Dr. Ma Thida's diagnosis of tuberculosis and ovarian tumors;
• requesting information about the treatment she has received;
• seeking information regarding her current state of health; and
• urging her immediate and unconditional release from prison.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

General Than Shwe
Chairman
State Law and Order Restoration Council
Yangon
Union of Myanmar
Salutation: Dear Chairman

Vice Admiral Thank Nyunt
Minister of Health
Minister's Office
Yangon, Union of Myanmar
Salutation: Dear Minister

His Excellency U Thaung
Ambassador of the Union of Myanmar to the United S
Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
2300 S Street, NW
Washington, DC 20008
fax: 202 332 9046
Salutation: Your Excellency

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