GOB RELEASES EIGHT MAY 30 POLITICAL PRISONERS

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 001444

SIPDIS

STATE ALSO FOR EAP/BCLTV; TREASURY FOR OASIA JEFF NEIL;
USPACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/11/2013
TAGS: PHUM PGOV BM NLD
SUBJECT: GOB RELEASES EIGHT MAY 30 POLITICAL PRISONERS

Classified By: COM Carmen Martinez for Reasons 1.5 (B,D)


1. (C) Summary: The GOB announced on November 10 the release
of eight political detainees, including six known members of
the NLD arrested following the May 30 premeditated attack on
ASSK and her convoy. The releases are clearly calculated to
soften the blow of a damning U.N. report on the human rights
situation in Burma to be delivered to the UNGA on November

12. End summary.


2. (U) On November 10, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
announced the release of eight Burmese democracy activists
detained since the May 30 attack in Depeyin on Aung San Suu
Kyi (ASSK) and her NLD convoy. In what has become standard
practice for the GOB, the MFA made the announcement in a
release to all diplomatic missions in Rangoon, except the
U.S. Embassy.


3. (U) The MFA provided minimal information on the detainees,
stating that "with regard to the events of the night of May
30, it is learnt that 8 more persons were released and sent
home on 9th November 2003." However, in contrast to recent
releases of political detainees, the GOB did provide a list
of detainee names and their prison locations. Authorities
released four of the detainees from Shwebo and Khamti jails
in Sagaing Division, two from the Myitkyina jail in Kachin
State, and two from Insein jail in Rangoon, the latter being
Burma's most notorious prison for political dissidents.


4. (C) Contrary to international press reports, not all of
the released detainees appear to be members of the NLD party.
Embassy NLD sources are unable to verify that the two
detainees released in Myitkyina, Daw Ngwe Kyaing (female) and
Tin Soe, are regular members of the party and neither of the
two appear on lists of activists missing since the May 30
assault.


5. (C) Six of the released detainees, however, are well known
NLD members. They include Tun Zaw Zaw, Aung Soe, Hla Oo,
Teza Naing, Daw May Hnin Kyi (female),and U Hla Min. The
most prominent of the six are Tun Zaw Zaw, an NLD youth
leader who was partially blinded during a previous stint in
jail, and U Hla Min, an NLD Member of Parliament-elect from
Thaninthayi Division and a participant in a U.S. Embassy
public diplomacy democracy program. Both of the two NLD
members are considered close confidants of ASSK and "second
generation" leaders of the NLD movement.


6. (C) Three of the released NLD members were arrested in
connection to their direct participation in the ill-fated NLD
convoy, including Hla Oo, Teza Naing, and Aung Soe. Local
police and military intelligence officials arrested the three
en masse on May 31 near Depeyin, the day after the attack.
The other released NLD members were arrested during a
nationwide SPDC-led sweep that shut down the entire NLD party
structure in the aftermath of the May 30 attack. Among those
arrested during the sweep were U Hla Min and May Hnin Kyi,
who were both detained in June and then re-arrested in July
for alleged parole violations. May Hnin Kyi, also an NLD
MP-elect, was originally detained with eight other NLD women
in Mandalay for writing a letter to SPDC Chairman Senior
General Than Shwe calling for ASSK's immediate release.


7. (C) Comment: The release of eight political detainees is
welcome news. However, this decision by the SPDC is clearly
calculated to soften the blow of U.N. human rights envoy
Pinheiro's expected report to the UNGA on November 12. The
regime made no substantive concessions to the rest of
Pinheiro's numerous requests on the human rights front and
continues to detain dozens of NLD members and some 1,300
political prisoners. End comment.
Martinez