Red Cross says Myanmar junta stops prison visits (Reuters)

[Up2Late]

(Well, at least we aren't as bad as this yet...or are we?)

Red Cross says Myanmar junta stops prison visits

Mon Feb 27, 2006 01:04 AM ET

By Ed Cropley

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Myanmar's military junta has suspended visits by the Red Cross to 90 prisons and labor camps across the country, the humanitarian agency said on Monday. "Basically, the situation is not very good," said Fiona Terry, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Yangon. "The government has not authorized us to visit since the end of last year."

The military government in charge of the former Burma had not given any specific reasons for the termination of the ICRC prison visits, which had been going on since 1999, she said. During that time, the ICRC had made 453 visits to prisoners, as well as two to opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi shortly after she was detained following clashes between her supporters and government backers in 2003, she said.

Human rights groups say Myanmar, which has been under military rule since a 1962 coup, has around 1,100 political prisoners. The ICRC does not release such information, citing the need for confidentiality.

Terry said the ICRC's ability to operate had become more difficult since the purge of Prime Minister Khin Nyunt in October 2004, with the junta imposing unworkable conditions on the agency, which visits prisoners in 80 countries and assesses their detention conditions.

(more at link below)

<http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=11343951&src=rss/worldNews>

[DELUSIONAL]

1. Sounds like the bushie Junta. Hides prisoners from Red Cross.