BBC ICRC gains access to Burmese pr

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Subject: BBC ICRC gains access to Burmese prisoners 

World: Asia-Pacific

ICRC gains access to Burmese prisoners



The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has begun visiting
detainees at a big prison the Insein jail near the Burmese capital,
Rangoon -- the first-ever such visits in Burma by the ICRC.

A Red Cross statement released in Geneva said that the organisation had a
verbal agreement with Burma's military government allowing ICRC delegates
access to all places of detention in the country.

The statement said that Red Cross would have access to what it called the
entire incarcerated population.

The Red Cross closed its Rangoon office almost four years ago after failing
to obtain permission to visit political prisoners.

Human rights groups and the opposition party, the National League for
Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, have accused the Burmese government of
detaining hundreds of NLD members without trial.