BKK Post,March 1, 1998. hijacker g

[burma@xxxxxxxxxx]

March 1, 1998.

hijacker gets his freedom
activist faces an uncertain future
 
Thai officials have released a Burmese student activist jailed for more than five years for 
hijacking a plane to demand democracy in his country.
 A Bangkok-based human rights group, Forum Asia, said yesterday that San Naing's future remained uncertain because he refused to go home and had yet to be granted asylum by a
third country.
 The former convict, mow housed  in a Thai immigration department detention centre, told 
reporters late on Friday when he was released that he would fight to the end against repatriaction to Burma where he believed his life would be in danger.
  "If they send me back, I will receive big punishment although I never did anything wrong
there except being involved in a non-violent demonstration," he told reporters.
 He said he would apply for refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner  for
Refugees(UNHCR).
 The 32-year- old was convicted and jailed for the 1989 hijack of a Burmese plane which was on a flight to eastern Thailand. 
 San Naing hijacked the Burmese Fokker-28 airliner to demand the release of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was then under house arrest.
 Chalida Thajaroensuk, Bangkok coordinator for the human rights group Forum Asis which is helping San Naing seek asylum, said that his criminal record made it harder for the group to get him assistance.
 Australia, Canada and the United States have already rejected San Aaing's request for asylum.--
Reuters