Dissidents Charge Prisoner Beaten

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Dissidents charge prisoner beaten to death in Myanmar

 .c Kyodo News Service    

BANGKOK, May 27 (Kyodo) - A Bangkok-based political group charged Wednesday a
political prisoner in Myanmar was killed Sunday after being beaten by prison
authorities. 

According to the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF), Aung Kyaw Moe,
believed to have been 29, died after prison officials at the Tharyarwaddy
Prison in northern Myanmar tried to break up a hunger strike by prisoners. 

Aung Kyaw Moe is alleged to have died in the prison hospital Sunday, a day
after he was beaten and seriously injured. 

He had been a student at Rangoon Institute of Technology before been sentenced
to 14 years for involvement in student demonstrations in December 1996, the
dissident statement said. 

Saturday's hunger strike was apparently called to mark the eighth anniversary
of the 1990 elections in which the National League for Democracy (NLD) won a
landslide victory. 

The junta in Myanmar refused to accept the results of that election and the
NLD has never been allowed the reins of government. 

The hunger strikers apparently wanted the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC), the Myanmar junta, to treat them as political prisoners and enter into
a dialogue with the NLD to peacefully resolve the country's problems. 

The dissident group said seven other prisoners were also beaten and seriously
injured when the authorities rejected the call for dialogue and cracked down
on the strikers. 

AP-NY-05-27-98 0830EDT