Burma prison system condemned

U Win Tin, a journalist held since 1989, is said to be in poor health

Burma's military junta is continuing to detain peaceful political activists in harsh jail conditions, often without charge, Amnesty International says.

The human rights group says there are at least 1,350 political prisoners in Burma - many of them ordinary people held for simple activities.

The most prominent prisoner is pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who turns 60 on Sunday, has spent nine of the past 16 years in some form of detention.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) leader won 1990 elections by a landslide but was never allowed to take power. She has been under house arrest since May 2003, and for two other stretches since 1989.

The military government has said it will release her, along with other political prisoners "when the time is right", but it has not set a date.

The Amnesty report lists more than 200 less well-known prisoners, many whom have also been held on and off since 1989 - but in much harsher conditions. Many are reported to have been tortured.

Aung San Suu Kyi has said she is happy to be the last prisoner freed

Many of the prisoners are elderly, including people suffering from serious health problems, the report says.

It highlights the case of 75-year-old U Win Tin, a journalist and NLD member who has been detained since 1989.

His health is failing, yet he has sometimes been denied food and water and made to sleep without bedding in a cell designed as a dog kennel.

While he was already in jail, he was sentenced for writing articles highlighting human rights abuses in prisons.

Other prisoners have been punished for circulating information from foreign news organisations and trying to pass on reports of abuse to the United Nations.

Torture

The authorities in Burma, also known as Myanmar, promised that U Win Tin would be freed with other prisoners in November 2004. But the release did not take place.

"Old men who never did anything wrong are still being punished," says the author of the report, Katherine Gerson.

"Aung San Suu Kyi herself has said it's not just about her. Lots of people are being held in her position and worse.

"Among them are students and people in their 70s and 80s. There are people from all walks of life."

One of the prisoners is named as Phyo Min Thein, a student who was arrested in 1991 for attending a rally in support of Aung San Suu Kyi, who had just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The report says the systematic use of torture is continuing in Burmese jails - including beatings and sleep deprivation. Confessions extracted as a result of torture have been used in trials, and defendants are not allowed access to lawyers.

At least three prisoners have died in custody in suspicious circumstances since January, the report says.

It names Ko Aung Hlaing Win, an NLD member who was detained on 1 May and who is reported to have died in custody on 7 May. Doctors are reported to have found injuries consistent with torture on his body.

In addition, at least 22 political prisoners are believed to have been tortured and maltreated after a group of them took part in a hunger strike in Insein prison in April, the report says.

Amnesty International is calling for the Burmese authorities to release all prisoners of conscience and to stop silencing political dissent.

After Aung San Suu Kyi, the most prominent political prisoner is U Tin Oo, vice-chairman of the NLD who has been under house arrest since May 2003.

Campaigners are using Aung San Suu Kyi's 60th birthday on 19 June as a focal point for international action.