Dissident fears for his safety

[ausgeo@xxxxxxx]

August 19, 1997

BANGKOK POST
Dissident fears for his safety 

Prisoner tells of cell visits by Slorc men 

Nussara Sawatsawang


A Burmese prisoner accused of involvement in an attempt to assassinate the 
ruling junta's intelligence chief appealed to the government yesterday not to 
send him back to Rangoon.

San Naing made his appeal from Bangkok Special Prison amid concerns the 
government is under pressure to hand him over to repay Rangoon for returning 
drug fugitive Li Yun-chung.

Sources said Burmese authorities had used military channels soon after Li's 
handover in May to request the return of San Naing, or Ye Thi Ha.

San Naing said: "This is a political game. I would never agree to go home. The 
Burmese officials have said they will guarantee my safety but how can I 
believe them?

"I want to request the Thai government to protect me," said the 28-year-old 
Burmese, who will soon complete a four-year term here for possessing firearms.

San Naing has been accused by the State Law and Order Restoration Council of 
involvement in a 1993 attempt to kill, by suicide bomb, Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, 
First Secretary of Slorc and its intelligence chief.

Just weeks after Li Yun-chung was returned to Thailand during Prime Minister 
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's visit to Rangoon in May, Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt named San 
Naing as the mastermind of the attempt on his life.

Earlier reports have suggested San Naing might be repatriated this month in 
exchange for the release of some 100 Thais, most of them fishermen, held in 
Rangoon.

A National Security Council source said Thailand was not obliged to repatriate 
San Naing because there is no extradition treaty with Burma.

"Thailand is not supposed to send anyone to a country where their safety could 
be at risk," he said of San Naing, who is seeking the protection of the United 
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

San Naing said Burmese officials had visited him four times in June and July 
and had tried to persuade him to go home. During the last visit, the officials 
- an army colonel and an intelligence officer - showed San Naing videotapes 
and pictures of his parents crying.

They also took photographs of him without giving reasons, said San Naing, who 
did not name the colonel and the intelligence officer, who were brought to him 
by NSC officials.

San Naing was first arrested in Thailand in 1989 with Ye Yint, another young 
Burmese, for hijacking a Fokker-28 from Burma to U-Tapao. After their release 
in 1991, Ye Yint settled in the United States.

In 1993, San Naing was arrested on charges of possessing weapons and jailed. 
His term is due to expire in December.

But the NSC source said that San Naing could be detained longer under an 
illegal entry charge, or resettled in a third country as a refugee, or sent 
back to Burma on a voluntary basis.

Under international law, Rangoon should not punish San Naing on a criminal 
charge for which he has been penalised in another country, a Foreign Ministry 
official said.

Forum-Asia, a non-governmental organisation trying to promote human rights in 
Southeast Asia, was concerned about his safety.

It would appeal against his repatriation in an open letter it plans to submit 
to the prime minister, said Chalida Tajaroensuk, the NGO's programme 
assistant.