Burma Media Watch 2002: July

Burma Media Watch 2002: July - September

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12.09.2002 - PEN - Silenced voices: U Win Tin
September 2002: The Irrawaddy - Dealing with the Censors
26.08.2002: RSF - Student activist and journalist released in Rangoon
23.08.2002: RSF/BMA - Student activist and journalist arrested in Rangoon
23.08.2002: BMA - Members of the University Students' Literary Association
31.07.2002: WAN-WEF - World Press Organisations Call on Myanmar to Release Ailing Journalist
31.07.2002: AFP - World press groups urge release of ailing Myanmar prisoner
31.07.2002: AP News - Media groups demand release of ailing Myanmar journalist
30.07.2002: RSF-BMA - Detained journalist U Win Tin transferred to Rangoon hospital
29.07.2002: AFP - Exiled Myanmar students tackle new careers in journalism
24.07.2002: AP - Media group says jailed Myanmar reporter in poor health
24.07.2002: VOA - Rights Groups Call on Burma to Release Ailing Journalist From Prison
24.07.2002: CPJ - CPJ concerned about health of imprisoned journalist
24.07.2002: Burma Campaign calls upon urgent action for U Win Tin
23.07.2002: RSF - Photographer Khin Aye Kyu released, cameraman Ko Sein Ohn still detained
22.07.2002: BMA - Prominent Burmese journalist is in danger of rapid health deterioration
18.07.2002: AP - Press watchdog condemns media restrictions in Thailand, Myanmar
18.07.2002: AFP - Press freedom a casualty of Thailand-Myanmar row: media rights group
17.07.2002: RSF/BMA - The press victim of tensions between the two countries
16.07.2002: AP - Thailand bars reporters, activist groups from border areas
16..07.2002: Xinhua - NGOs, foreign journalists banned from Thai-Myanmar border camp
15.07.2002: AFP - Rights group urges Thailand, Myanmar to lift journalist blacklists
13.07.2002: RSF - 55 French mayors call for Win Tin¹s release from jail on 13th anniversary of his arrest
09.07.2002: RSF - RSF Highlights "Impunity Black List" & Role Of Local Justice As ICC Starts Work
09.07.2002: CJFE, RSF Raise Press-Freedom Concerns As G8 Summit Nears
09.07.2002: RSF Highlights Impunity Black List & Role Of Local Justice As ICC Starts Work

12.09.2002 - PEN - Silenced voices: U Win Tin

by Siobhan Dowd, with the cooperation of the Writers in Prison Committee of International P.E.N., London

Nearly five years ago, the Burmese writer U Win Tin was the subject of this column. In the 15 years I have been describing the world's Silenced Voices, I have rarely written about someone twice, but then rarely has someone suffered so much for so long. He is one of the longest-serving prisoners on PEN's Writers in Prison Committee books. During his thirteen years in Rangoon's notorious Insein Jail, he has twice had additional sentences slapped on him, he has watched a close friend, Maung Thaw Ka, die in captivity, and his own health has been precarious. Frequently he has been hospitalized and in recent weeks, reports indicate that he is in grave danger of sharing Maung Thaw Ka's fate.

To date, the authorities, despite numerous international appeals, have shown no leniency in his case. They claim he is a radical Communist who has broken the law; he himself insists he is "just a democrat," partial to the words of Mahatma Gandhi and Henry David Thoreau. Former prison inmates have only praise for him. They relate that he still preserves his intellectual freedom and dignity in jail by creating "a democratic space around him," that he mediates when prison tempers become frayed and educates the younger inmates, while always holding fast to his belief in democracy.

Since its ill-fated democracy movement was brutally crushed in 1989, Burma has remained an oppressed, poverty-stricken nation. The woman who was properly elected to lead the country, the Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, remains under the close scrutiny of the military dictatorship, with her movements restricted. Many of her supportersdespite some welcome recent releasesremain in detention. U Win Tin is among the most prominent. Suu Kyi has explained that when he was first arrested, the authorities tried to make him confess to being her "puppet master." This, she insists, was not the case. Although he was a close associate of hers, and active in her National League for Democracy, his main activity was setting up and running an independent Writers' Union along with Maung Thaw Ka.

U Win Tin, 72, is the son of a trader who rose to become one of the most prominent intellectuals of his day. Aung San Suu Kyi recalls him as the strong, silent type, conveying "strength of purpose" and "firmness" while being "little given to talking about himself."

"It was several months," she recalls, "before I discovered, quite by chance, that he was a bachelor who lived alone and managed his own household chores." He is well-travelled in Asia and Europe, a good linguist, and has acted as a consultant with the Dutch publishing company Djambartan. His passion has always been the world of letters. While a student at Rangoon University, he was an assistant editor at the Burma Translation

Society, and, on graduating, edited three successive journals until emerging in 1969 as the Chief Editor of the then leading daily Hanthawaddy. During the 1970s, however, U Win Tin became increasingly dissatisfied with the censorship measures imposed by the Burma Socialist Programme Party. He joined an independent group, the Saturday Reading Circle, which published a pamphlet insisting on the right to intellectual freedom. He was fired soon afterwards.

Throughout the 1980s, he worked as a freelance writer and translator, and as the democracy movement gathered momentum, he threw himself enthusiastically into the campaign for change. He was arrested on July 3, 1989, accused of harboring a fugitive from the law, and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. Just as this term was expiring, he was sentenced to another eleven years, later reduced to ten, under the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act. The precise substance of this new charge is unclear, but relates to his political activities. These two sentences have now elapsed, but in 1996 he received another 5 years under the same emergency legislation, this time for writing a poem in prison to "the Lady" (Daw Aung San Suu Kyi) and participating in an underground prison journal. When the prison authorities discovered the clandestine literary activities, U Win Tin was among several prisoners to be held for some time in military dog cellsliterally, tiny spaces usually used for dogs. He was denied visitors and had only cold concrete to sleep on.

This certainly aggravated his spondylitis (a painful inflammation of the vertebrae), and resulted in another stay in hospital. He has also lost several teeth in custody, suffered two heart attacks, and has recently undergone a hernia operation. He is dependent on a friend outside for the supply of his medicines. In July this year, there were reports that he now also has a urethral infection, acute haemorrhoids and a prostate disorder. A doctor recommended that he receive better, and more expensive, medication, but he apparently refused the advice, as he was reluctant to add to his friend's financial burdens. A sympathetic prison warden is reported to have remarked to a visitor that "he's a man of steel and never shows signs of depression, but this time I am deeply concerned for his health." At the end of July, a radio station report indicated that U Win Tin had been transferred back to Rangoon General Hospital for treatment. Friends welcomed this news, but believe that now only his early release from prison can save him.

By claiming it is serious about eradicating drugs and pleading for assistance to defuse the sudden terrorist threat in the country, Burma's military junta seems eager to get on board the US-led anti-terrorism bandwagon. But this does not mean the state-run press is about to bend over backwards to appease the Americans anytime soon.

According to one senior journalist in Rangoon, articles voicing general anti-US sentiments and criticism of the Bush administration are still okay with Burma's draconian censorship committee, the Press Scrutiny Board (PSB), a branch of the Ministry of Information. Chastising long-time junta allies such as Singapore, Malaysia and Japan, however, remains strictly off-limits.

A recent editorial in a weekly journal denouncing the US invasion of Afghanistan drew heavy criticism in Burmanot from the government, but from National League for Democracy party members and university students. "They said they were not pleased with his article because they see the US as a friend of the opposition," said another Rangoon journalist.

The Burmese media remains steadfast in its refusal to publish positive articles or pictures of NLD leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and now, favorable articles about other female politicians in Asianational presidents and opposition leaders alikeare forbidden. "Before, we knew we could not write about Daw Suu, but now we can not even write anything positive about Benazir Bhutto or Megawati [Sukarnoputri]," the source said.

According to one blacklisted writer, the PSB has not let down its guard since the release of Suu Kyi from house arrest in May. "One in three articles still gets completely banned, and most others get censored in some way or another," the senior journalist said. He added that blacklisted writers have to submit their works to the PSB three times before final approval. Brown-listed writers must pass through the committee twice and white-listed writers only once.

Thus, the senior journalist explains that writers have found other ways to circumvent the censors to express their political views: "Cartoons are the best way to convey politics and Burma's are among the best in Asia, but we can still convey hidden meanings in our writings without the PSB knowing. After 40 years, we've gotten better at cheating them."

Paris - Journalist and student activist Thaw Thaw Myo Han was freed by the military secret police on 23 August along with 19 other students. He told Radio Free Asia they had been arrested and interrogated in connection with "illegal publications" and had not been mistreated.

Thaw Thaw Myo Han, an electronic communication student at Rangoon's University of Technology, writer and contributor to the magazines Sa-be-byu, Han-thit and Atwe-amyin, was arrested by the military secret police on 17 August along with two other students. There has been no news of them since their arrest.

"The Burmese junta has shown unprecedented signs of opening-up in recent months, with the release of Aun San Suu Kyi and numerous other dissidents. These fresh arrests are the most unfortunate and most blatant refutation of this opening-up. They raise the spectre of a new wave of repression of opposition activists, in particular journalists, who attempt to inform the population about the activities of opposition movements and the situation in the country," state Robert Ménard, Secretary-General of Reporters Without Borders and U Thaung, President of the Burma Media Association, in their letter to Burmese Interior Minister, Lieutenant-General Tin Hlaing. The two organisations have called for the immediate release of Thaw Thaw Myo Han and his companions, and have called on the regime to halt arbitrary arrests immediately.

Thaw Thaw Myo Han was arrested at his Rangoon home during the night of 17 August by the military intelligence service. The authorities, when questioned about the reasons for the arrest, refused to make any comment. The student, who was writing articles in support of democracy and of Aung San Suu Kyi, had previously been taken into police custody in July 2002, after he published the University Literary Journal, under the auspices of the University Students' Literary Association, without authorisation. The day he was arrested, a final-year law student, Thet Naung Soe, distributed a statement in a Rangoon street calling on the Burmese people to "make a clear choice between living in fear or living in freedom". According to the Irrawaddy news magazine, Thaw Thaw Myo Han was arrested because the military authorities suspected him of being involved in a plan to organise a pro-democracy demonstration.

At least 21 students have been arrested since 17 August, and dozens more have gone underground.

1. Kyaw Swa - 4th Year Electronics, Yangon Technological University (YTU)*

2. Thaw Thaw Myo Han** - 4th Year Electronics, YTU

3. Kyaw Zin Oo - 4th Year Mechanical, YTU

4. Nyunt Win - 3rd Year Electronics, YTU

5. Htoo Kyaw Win - 3rd Year Architecture, YTU

6. Thaung Htike - 4th Year Electronics, YTU

7. Nyan Linn Aung - 2nd Year Economics, University of Distant Education

8. Phyo Khaing Latt - 4th Year Burmese, University of Distant Education

9. Aung Myo Htut Final Year English, Dagon University

10. Naing Win Htay - 1st Year English, Dagon University

11. Khin Maung Win - 2nd Year Law, Dagon University

12. Kyaw Zaw Linn - Last Year Mathematics, Dagon University

13. Ye Myo Haing - 1st Year Mechanical Design, Government Technology College

14. Thura Aung - 2nd Year Physics, Yangon University (East)

15. Thet Naung Soe - Last Year Law, Yangon University (Main)

16. Win Ko - Last Year Physics, Yangon University (East)

17. Nyan Linn Aung - Last Year Chemistry, Yangon University (East)

*The original "Rangoon Institute of Technology" was later renamed as "Yangon Institute of Technology (YIT)" and "Yangon Technological University (YTU)".

**Thaw Thaw Myo Han is also a writer and his writings may be seen in some famous magazines such as Sa-be-byu, Han-thit and Atwe-Amyin. His pen-name is Minn Khet Ye.

Paris - World Press Organisations Call on Myanmar to Release Ailing Journalist The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum have asked the military rulers of Myanmar to release journalist U Win Tin from jail immediately following reports that his medical condition has worsened.

"It is our organisations' view that the continued imprisonment and negligence of U Win Tin's serious health problems constitutes a deep blemish on the international standing of Myanmar which can only be erased by his release," said the letter, signed by WAN President Seok Hyun Hong and WEF President Gloria Brown Anderson. "We believe that his continued detention remains a barrier to peace in Myanmar and of great alarm to the international community."

The call came as foreign ministers from Myanmar and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations prepared to meet in Brunei on Thursday with their counterparts from the United States, Europe, and other key trading partners.

U Win Tin is the former editor of the daily newspaper Hanthawati, vice-chair of Myanmar's Writer's Association and, along with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a founder of the National League for Democracy. He was arrested in July 1989, tried in a closed military court and sentenced to 14 years of prison for allegedly being a member of the banned Communist Party of Myanmar. This sentence has since been increased to 21 years in jail.

U Win Tin's imprisonment has been plagued by serious illness and his condition reportedly worsened in early July. He has had two heart attacks and a hernia operation and suffers from high blood pressure, diabetes and spinal inflammation. He was returned to his special cell in Rangoon's Insein prison on 20 May after being treated for several months in the city's general hospital.

The letter from WAN and the WEF said:

"We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 100 countries, to call on you to release journalist U Win Tin from jail immediately.

"We are gravely concerned about the sharply deteriorating health of the 72-year-old U Win Tin, winner of WAN's 2001 Golden Pen of Freedom, who has been imprisoned for the past 13 years. U Win Tin, former editor of the daily newspaper Hanthawati, vice-chair of Myanmar's Writer's Association and founder of the National League for Democracy, was arrested in July 1989, tried in a closed military court and sentenced to 14 years of prison for allegedly being a member of the banned Communist Party of Myanmar. This sentence has since been increased to 21 years in jail.

"U Win Tin's condition reportedly worsened in early July, with haemorrhoid pains, problems stemming from an old urinary infection and prostate troubles. His imprisonment has been plagued by serious illness. He has had two heart attacks and a hernia operation and suffers from high blood pressure, diabetes and spinal inflammation. He was returned to his special cell in Rangoon's Insein prison on 20 May after being treated for several months in the city's general hospital.

"It is our organisations' view that the continued imprisonment and negligence of U Win Tin's serious health problems constitutes a deep blemish on the international standing of Myanmar which can only be erased by his release. We believe that his continued detention remains a barrier to peace in Myanmar and of great alarm to the international community.

"Furthermore, the detention of U Win Tin constitutes a clear breach of his right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international conventions and we remind you that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights considers that 'detention, as punishment for the peaceful expression of an opinion, is one of the most reprehensible ways to enjoin silence and, as a consequence, a grave violation of human rights'.

"We respectfully call on your government to demonstrate strength, compassion and sincerity in the reconciliation process by releasing U Win Tin and by enabling him to receive the medical treatment he so urgently requires."

WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 71 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 100 countries, 13 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups.

The WEF is the division of WAN that represents senior news executives.

BANGKOK, July 31 (AFP) - Two international media organisations Wednesday urged Myanmar's military regime to immediately release ailing journalist Win Tin who has been held in jail for 13 years.

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and World Editors Forum (WEF) said in a joint letter to the junta that they were "gravely concerned about the sharply deteriorating health of the 72-year-old U Win Tin."

The condition of the journalist, winner of WAN's 2001 Golden Pen of Freedom, reportedly worsened in early July, with haemorrhoid pains, problems stemming from an old urinary infection and prostate trouble, they said.

The Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) earlier this week said that the former editor of the Hanthawaddy newspaper was transferred from Insein prison to Yangon General Hospital Prison Ward on July 27.

Around 1,500 political prisoners are estimated to be held in Myanmar's jails, but over the past 18 months the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has released hundreds in a series of small groups.

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Two international media organizations on Wednesday urged Myanmar's military junta to free an ailing 72-year-old journalist whose health has reportedly worsened in jail, where he has languished for the last 13 years.

In a letter to the Myanmar government, the Paris-based World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum said they are ``gravely concerned at the sharply deteriorating health'' of Win Tin.

A recipient of the WEF 2001 Golden Pen of Freedom Award, Win Tin is a founder of the National League for Democracy party headed by Aung San Suu Kyi.

He was arrested on July 4, 1989, tried in a military court and sentenced to 14 years in prison for allegedly being a member of the banned Communist Party of Myanmar. He was sentenced to an additional five years for illegally possessing writing materials in jail.

He is being held at Yangon's Insein Prison.

``We believe that his continued detention remains a barrier to peace in Myanmar and of great alarm to the international community,'' said the letter to the Myanmar government.

Win Tin, former editor of the daily Hanthawati newspaper, has had two heart attacks and a hernia operation during his incarceration and suffers from high blood pressure, diabetes and spinal inflammation, according to the two media groups. They say his condition reportedly worsened in early July.

The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum represent 18,000 newspapers in 100 countries.

The military, which has ruled Myanmar since 1962, keeps tight control on the media and stamps out dissent.

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association today welcomed the transfer of detained journalist Win Tin to Rangoon general hospital but continued to demand his release. According to the Democratic Voice of Burma radio station, Win Tin was transferred to the hospital's prisoners ward on 27 July. He has been imprisoned for the past 13 years.

On July 24, Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association expressed their grave concern about the sharply deteriorating condition of Win Tin. They called for him to be freed immediately and taken to hospital, where they said they would pay the cost of his treatment.

Son Moe Wai

CHIANG MAI - In a cramped home office on the Thai-Myanmar border, a group of young Myanmar men are hard at work proofing reams of type and tapping on computer keyboards. A paper sign taped to the front door reads: "News Room". In their early twenties, far from their real home and with meagre resources, these enthusiastic scribes represent the next generation of Myanmar's journalists.

Having fled from the country's ruling military regime in the late 1990s after becoming too involved in politics for the generals' liking, the group are now battling to make self-taught careers for themselves in journalism.

"The writing business is a long way from our favourite subjects, which are mostly science," says editor-in-chief Maung Maung Htwe, who was a second-year maths major when he left Myanmar. "I never expected to become a journalist," chimes in sports reporter Win Naing, once a physics student.

But seeing a free press in action in Thailand compelled them to give their new profession a go.

"When we arrived at the border, we discovered what newspapers that are published in a democratic state are like. We were shocked at the policy of press freedom -- it was unbelievable. Everything was new for us, from the writing style down to the cartoons," Maung Maung Htwe says."We wanted to share our experiences with our fellow citizens and let them get a taste of free expression."

And so the Myanmar-language newspaper Ah Myin Thit, or The New Vision, was born. The 12-page weekly launched in 2000, but after some 60 issues it folded due to financial difficulties. Now its revamped nine-member editorial team is due to begin republishing in October.

Their market is a tough one to crack. More than a dozen Myanmar-language journals and newspapers are produced in Thailand by exiled political activists. Most have a particular take on the political situation in Myanmar based on their funding sources, and are given away for free, according to designer and photographer -- and former art student -- Kyaw Win.

But The New Vision funds itself through a modest cover price of 10 baht in Thailand (25 cents), or three dollars in the United States, forcing it to produce something people are willing to pay for. "We believe our newspaper is the first independent newspaper of this kind," says Kyaw Win.

While The New Vision identifies with the anti-Yangon, pro-democracy movement -- its pages feature stories on politics and issues facing opposition parties -- its main objective is to inform and entertain its Myanmar readers.

"The majority of our readers are Myanmar students and workers living along the Thai-Myanmar border, as well as in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia," Kyaw Win says.

While they may find their task challenging, they concede it fades when compared with what journalists remaining in Yangon face.

"We see only two kinds of publications in the local media in Burma," Maung Maung Htwe says, referring to the country by its former name. "There are the private-owned journals and magazines, which cover economic and entertainment news, and there are the state-run newspapers, which are mouthpieces of the regime, producing propaganda," says Maung Maung Htwe. "That is real life for the Myanmar media, year after year."

Privately run publications -- which face strict censorship by the military -- have proliferated over the past 10 years, as government organisations and agencies have been permitted to trade what is effectively a publishing license on the open market. "But most of the new publications are 'pop' news, entertainment. People can't write about what they want," says Ko Cho, a freelance journalist who recently left Yangon.

"Sometimes we write about lifestyles in foreign countries, so we'll mention what the rights of people in those countries are, which may allow readers to compare their situation with ours," he says. "That is the only chance a journalist has to write about human rights in a local publication."

Only a handful of Yangon-based Myanmar journalists -- many trained decades ago -- who work for foreign media organisations actually research and write stories on national politics, the journalists say.

"But even what they write is limited," Maung Maung Htwe says. And while their skills might be top-notch, Win Naing says, they are not being given an opportunity to pass them on. "We worry that they are not being given a chance to hand over their valuable experience to the younger generation," he says.

Journalists on the border have a better chance of receiving at least some media education. Maung Maung Htwe attended a six-month journalism course sponsored by the Independent Journalism Foundation earlier this year in Phnom Penh, while several of his colleagues have completed short courses provided by the US-based non-government organisation, Internews.

"We are determined to be professional journalists," Win Naing says. For now that may mean sleeping by their desks and surviving on instant noodles. But their goal is clear: to take a quality newspaper that champions press freedom back to Myanmar when the country is a true democracy.

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Win Tin, a prominent Myanmar journalist and democracy advocate who has been in prison for nearly 13 years, is in poor health and needs medical treatment, a media advocacy group said Wednesday.

The Burma Media Association, an organization of expatriate Myanmar journalists, said in a statement Wednesday that Win Tin needs ``serious and effective medical treatment immediately.''

Win Tin, a recipient of the World Association of Newspapers' 2001 Golden Pen of Freedom Award, is one of the founders of National League for Democracy party of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The 73-year-old journalist is suffering from various digestive and urinary tract infections and cannot afford to pay for medicine, the statement said, citing unnamed sources in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

``People from literary and political circles were worried about his health that deteriorated rapidly in July,'' it added.

Win Tin was arrested on July 4, 1989, tried in a closed military court and sentenced to 14 years in prison for allegedly being a member of the banned Communist Party of Myanmar.

International media organizations have said he was sentenced to an additional five years in jail for illegally possessing writing materials in prison.

He has been held at Yangon's Insein Prison, but spent several months earlier this year at a nearby hospital, according to the organization.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said in May that at least 12 journalists are still in jail in Myanmar. The military, which has ruled since 1962, keeps tight control on the media.

Myanmar's military government has refused to hand over power to the National League for Democracy, which won general elections in 1990. Suu Kyi was kept under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 and for another 19 months from September 2000.

Her release in May initially raised hopes that the junta may be willing to restore democracy. But diplomats and observers say substantive talks on a political transition have not taken place.

Two media advocacy groups say 72-year-old Win Tin, a prominent Burmese journalist and a democracy advocate imprisoned for nearly 13 years, is in poor health and needs immediate medical treatment.

In a joint statement Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association said they are gravely concerned about the deteriorating condition of Win Tin.

The two groups said they are appalled at what they described as the Burmese government's "criminal attitude" toward political prisoners. They called on the country's authorities to free Win Tin and allow him to get medical treatment. The statement said Win Tin suffers from various digestive and urinary tract infections and can not afford to pay for medicine. The two groups said they will pay the cost for Win Tin's medical bills.

A recipient of the World Association of Newspapers' 2001 Golden Pen of Freedom Award, Win Tin is one of the founders of Burma's National League for Democracy party, which is led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

He was arrested in July 1989 and is serving a 21-year sentence after being convicted of subversion.

New York, July 24, 2002-The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about the deteriorating health of imprisoned journalist U Win Tin, one of Burma's most prominent political prisoners.

A former editor-in-chief of the daily Hanthawati and vice-chairman of Burma's Writers Association, U Win Tin, 73, is currently serving the 13th year of a 20-year sentence in Rangoon's Insein Prison.

In early July, U Win Tin's poor health began to dramatically decline, according to the Burma Media Association (BMA), a network of Burmese journalists working in exile. He now suffers from hemorrhoids, a urethral infection, and prostate gland problems. He is in severe pain, but is not being provided with the medications recommended by the prison doctor.

A physician pays regular visits to U Win Tin, but prison officials have not permitted him to treat the journalist's ailments, said a BMA source, who also confirmed that friends have asked authorities to allow U Win Tin to undergo special medical treatment but have received no response.

"The injustice of U Win Tin's detention is only compounded by such inhumane treatment," said CPJ's executive director Ann Cooper. "CPJ demands his immediate and unconditional release so that he can receive urgent medical care."

Background

On May 20, authorities returned U Win Tin to his cell from Rangoon General Hospital, where he had undergone several months of treatment for various ailments. His health has been severely affected by years of maltreatment in Burma's prisons, including a period when he was kept in solitary confinement in one of Insein Prison's notorious "dog cells," formerly used as a kennel for the facility's guard dogs. While in detention, U Win Tin has suffered two heart attacks, undergone two hernia operations, and contracted spondylitis, a degenerative spine disease.

U Win Tin was arrested on July 4, 1989, and sentenced to three years of hard labor for allegedly arranging a "forced abortion" for a member of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD). A well-known and influential journalist, U Win Tin was active in establishing independent publications during the 1988 student democracy movement. He also worked closely with NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and was one of her closest advisers.

In 1992, he was sentenced to an additional 10 years for "writing and publishing pamphlets to incite treason against the State" and "giving seditious talks." On March 28, 1996, prison authorities extended U Win Tin's sentence by another seven years, after they convicted him, along with at least 22 others, of producing clandestine publications-including a report describing the horrific conditions of Rangoon's Insein Prison to Yozo Yokota, the U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in Burma.

U Win Tin has repeatedly refused to sign a letter promising to give up his political activities as a condition of his release.

U Win Tin is the recipient of UNESCO's World Press Freedom Award for 2000 and the World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award for 2001.

Urgent action needed!

We have received very worrying reports about the health of U Win Tin, a prominent political prisoner in Burma.

According to the independent Burma Media Association the 73 year old prisoner is being denied access to proper medical care, and his life could be in danger.

We urgently need you to email the Burmese Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking that they immediately release U Win Tin, and ensure he has access to proper healthcare. Their email address is mofa.aung@mptmail.net. Please BC copies of your email to info@burmacampaign.org.uk. In the UK you can also call the Burmese Embassy on 0207 499 8841 or fax them on 0207 629 4169. Please be very polite.

Mobile: 0794 123 9640

Tel: 00 44 (0)207 281 7377

Fax: 00 44 (0)207 272 3559

E-mail mark.farmaner@burmacampaign.org.uk

www.burmacampaign.org.uk

To join our campaign network and receive the latest updates and actions from the Burma Campaign UK automatically, send a blank e-mail to burmacampaign-subscribe@topica.com

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23.07.2002: RSF - Photographer Khin Aye Kyu released, cameraman Ko Sein Ohn still detained

Burmese photographer Khin Aye Kyu was recently released from prison after serving a four-year sentence for distributing unauthorized videotapes and illegally possessing video equipment.

Confirming her release, she told RSF that she was trying to resume her career as a photographer, but that her first priority was looking after her brother, Ko Sein Ohn, a cameraman who remains in prison in Mandalay and whose wife is too poor to support him. She also mentioned that photographer Khin Maung Win, also known as Sunny, is still imprisoned in difficult conditions.

Ko Sein Ohn, aged 50, was jailed for the same offence as Khin Aye Kyu, and at the same time, in 1996, but was sentenced to a longer jail term of 10 years. The military regime claimed he had made and distributed videos of a speech by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Khin Aye Kyu said his conditions of detention are poor and he suffers from stomach problems. Since her release, she has been visiting him every two months and supporting both herself and her brother by selling lottery tickets in the street.

Khin Aye Kyu did cover Aung San Suu Kyi's recent visit to a Rangoon suburb. Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in May. "I want to resume my work as a photographer and camera operator," the photographer explained, "but it is expensive and I do not have any clients yet."

RSF has called for the release of Ko Sein Ohn and at least 15 other media workers who are currently imprisoned in Burma.

The organisation has also learned that the authorities at Myitkyina prison, in northern Burma, recently lifted their two-month-old ban on visits to journalist and elected Member of Parliament Sein Hla Oo. Despite the long and costly journey from Rangoon, his wife has said she plans to visit him as soon as possible. The journalist has had several heart attacks since he was arrested.

A few days before the visitation ban was lifted, Sein Hla Oo's wife was invited to the house of Aung San Suu Kyi, who said she was worried about his health and promised to intervene with the authorities. The visitation ban was also lifted for opposition figure Khin Zaw Win, who is also imprisoned at Myitkyina.

Finally, in a recent message to the Avignon International Theatre Festival, Czech President Vaclav Havel expressed his support for imprisoned writers and journalists. He particularly singled out U Win Tin for mention. Journalist U Win Tin, an official of the opposition National League for Democracy, has been held at Rangoon's Insein Prison since 4 July 1989 (see IFEX alerts of 31 and 10 May, 11 March and 14 February 2002, 10 April 2001, 28 November and 28 April 2000 and 9 October 1997).

by Zin Linn

A reliable news source inside Burma sent an urgent message concerned with U Win Tin, the most distinguished prisoner of conscience today. It was said that he needs a serious and effective medical treatment immediately. People from literary and political circles were worried about his health that deteriorated rapidly in July.

U Win Tin, former editor-in-chief of Hanthawaddy Newspaper in Burma and NLD Central Executive Committee member who celebrated in detention his 72nd birthday on 12 March 2001, was returned to his special cell at Insein prison last May 20, after several months in Rangoon General Hospital (RGH). The reason of his return was that the military intelligence authorities decided to build partition walls in the hospital wards in order to put prisoners of conscience in solitary confinement.

Nearly two months after his return to cell No.10 in Insein Prison, U Win Tin has been suffering from more health problems. In first week of July, he was seriously tormented by haemorrhoids and his previous urethral infection subsequently caused prostate gland disorder. He suffers from severe pain while trying to urinate and bleeding when he defecates. He has to take plenty of pills for his ailments. Although he was badly distressed by pains, he did not ask for special treatment. When the prison doctor came to see him in the 2nd week of July, he was considerably pale and weak. Then the doctor asked him of whether his family could afford to buy some good medicines. As he was a confirmed bachelor, U Win Tin replied the doctor that a friend of him who came to visit him at prison is not as rich as to buy him good medicines. His friend has been visiting him for over ten years. As he was afraid of giving trouble to his friend, he instead asked the doctor to treat him with cheaper medicines. While he was requesting the doctor, an unidentified junior jail officer who sympathise with U Win Tin was watching the scene. The officer retold the story to visiting friend of U Win Tin. He also told him the real situation of U Win Tin's health problems. According to him, U Win Tin is required to undergo a special medical examination and treatment.

''I know him very well for I take charge of the special cell-block occasionally. He's a man of steel and never shows a sign of depression. But this time I'm deeply concerned about his health'', said the jail officer.

A close aide of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, he was convalescing after second hernia operation (the first was in March 1995). The UN Special Rapporteur for Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro visited him in hospital in early March 2002.

Prominent journalist, writer and co-founder of the National League for Democracy, U Win Tin was arrested on 4 July 1989, charged with a make-up criminal code and sentenced to 3 years imprisonment with hard labour on 3 October 1989. Furthermore, he received 10 and 7 years sentences in June 1992 and March 1996 respectively, and therefore he is serving twenty-year prison sentence in total.

On his third trial, U Win Tin was allegedly charged for smuggling out of the prison anti-military regime propaganda and a report on human rights abuses in various Burmese prisons to UN Special Rapporteur.

He is being held in the special cell-block of Insein prison, in cell No. 10. Due to his very poor health, the authorities regularly transfer him back and forth between cell No. 10 and the prison hospital. During the 13 years he has spent in jail so far, U Win Tin has suffered two heart attacks, underwent two operations and wearing a surgical collar for spondylitis. Because of poor health-care in prison, he has lost most of his teeth and the authorities refused him to provide a set of dentures. He also has got eye-sight problem but the authorities refused to provide him a pair of new spectacles. Former editor-in-chief of the Hanthawaddy Daily, vice-chairman of the Journalists & Writers Association of Burma, literary & art critic, editorial team member of the Burmese Encyclopaedia Publishing Board, author of various articles against the regime and close colleague of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, U Win Tin, now 73 years old, refused several times to give in his political belief and sign a letter of resignation from the NLD in exchange for his release.

One prominent magazine editor inside Burma recently said that the military authorities suspected a clandestine correspondence between U Win Tin and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi while he was at Guard-ward in RGH. That may be the regime's major concern and they would never allow him of becoming again Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's consultant. In his second trial, he was allegedly accused for advising the Lady to launch a campaign of civil disobedience.

U Win Tin was awarded UNESCO's World Press Freedom Prize for 2000 and World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award for 2001. Fifty-five mayors of towns all over France have signed a Reporters Without Borders' (Reporters Sans Frontières) petition calling for the immediate release of U Win Tin, who has been solitary confinement for over 13 years with serious health problems. The petition was organised with the help of the monthly magazine Maires de France, which supports the journalist.

Conditions in Insein prison, the country's most notorious dungeon where nearly hundred political prisoners have died in recent years, are not at all suitable for U Win Tin's poor health.

The leader of the NLD, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has called U Win Tin "a man of courage and integrity. He could not be intimidated into making false confessions. He is as clear as ever and his spirit is upright and unwavering."

BANGKOK, Thailand - A U.S.-based press watchdog has condemned recent media restrictions imposed by the Myanmar and Thai governments, including the blacklisting of each other's journalists.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement Thursday that the restrictions are particularly unfortunate in the case of Thailand, which takes pride in its democracy. Neighboring Myanmar, also known as Burma, is a military dictatorship.

``The Thai government seems to be taking a page from the Burmese generals' playbook,'' the committee's executive director Ann Cooper said in the statement.

Tense relations between the two countries worsened in May when Myanmar's military junta blamed Thailand for aiding ethnic Shan rebels who had attacked a Myanmar military base. Myanmar's state-controlled media launched a vitriolic anti-Thai campaign, insulting its revered monarchy in a series of articles.

In response, Thailand banned two Myanmar columnists on June 28 from entering the country. On July 12, Myanmar blacklisted 13 Thai journalists and a historian, accusing them of writing articles ``belittling'' Myanmar government policies.

Thailand has also banned foreign journalists and international non-governmental organizations from refugee camps for Myanmar's ethnic minorities.

More than 100,000 Karen refugees live in Thai camps scattered along the border. Because the Myanmar junta restricts media coverage in that country, newly arrived refugees often serve as a crucial source of information about conditions inside Myanmar.

``Preparing blacklists of journalists and imposing access restrictions on the media are actions typically associated with military regimes, not vibrant democracies like Thailand,'' the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

BANGKOK - Press freedom in Myanmar and Thailand has become a casualty of a diplomatic brawl between the neighbouring nations that erupted earlier this year, two media rights group said Thursday.

"Once again Burmese and Thai journalists are victims of the tensions between their respective governments," Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders - RSF) general secretary Robert Menard said in a joint statement with the Burma Media Association (BMA).

Thailand-Myanmar relations soured badly in May following clashes along the border when ethnic Shan rebels overran Myanmar military bases.

A tit-for-tat series of bans began on June 28, when Thailand blacklisted Ma Tin Win, the author of a series of articles in Myanmar's official press accused of insulting Thailand's revered monarchy, and editor Maung Maung of the New Light of Myanmar.

On July 12 Myanmar's military junta announced it had banned 15 Thai reporters from entering Myanmar on the grounds they wrote anti-government articles aimed at damaging bilateral ties.

Then on July 16, Thailand's National Security Council (NSC) barred foreign journalists from visiting refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, saying the region was "under martial law".

"From now on, foreign journalists will be banned from visiting camps or controlled areas as they are likely to report only on negative aspects of official work or on inaccurate and unconfirmed reports," NSC chief Khachadpai Buruspatana said on Monday.

The RSF and BMA statement also said Khing Maung Soe, a reporter at Radio Free Asia, was interrogated at the end of June in Thailand by police in the border region while he was investigating the rape of a Myanmar refugee committed by a Thai police officer.

"The two organisations have asked the Thai and Burmese interior ministers, Purachai Piemsomboon and Colonel Tin Hlaing to ensure that the restrictions on journalists' work be removed as soon as possible," the statement said.

The bans have added fuel to the row between the historic adversaries.

After the two sides exchanged protests on May 20, Yangon slammed shut its checkpoints on the Thai border, banned visiting official delegations and launched a nationalistic tirade against Thailand in the state-run media.

No talks have been scheduled to settle the spat.

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières - RSF) and the Burma Media Association (BMA, the organisation of Burmese journalists in exile) strongly condemned the recent obstacles to press freedom by the Burmese and Thai governments, particularly in the frontier zone between the two countries. "Once again Burmese and Thai journalists are victims of the tensions between their respective governments", declared Robert Ménard, General Secretary of RSF. The two organisations have asked the Thai and the Burmese Interior Ministers, Purachai Piumsombun and Colonel Tin Hlaing, to ensure that the restrictions on journalists' work be removed at soon as possible.

The first obstacle came from Thailand, which, on 28 June 2002, declared personas non grata in its territory two Burmese journalists: Maung Maung, chief editor of the official daily The New Light of Myanmar and Ma Tin Win, author of a series of articles on the Thai monarchy deemed to be 'insulting'.

On 12 July, it was Burma's turn to blacklist the names of fifteen Thai journalists accused of propaganda against the Burmese military junta. These reporters were not quoted by name but Kyaw Win, deputy chief of military intelligence, said they belong to the newspapers The Nation, Bangkok Post, Thai Rath, Thai News, Daily News, Siam Rath, Matichon, Khao Sod and to a radio station.

On 16 July, the Thai National Security Council banned foreign journalists from entering the refugee camps along the Burma-Thai border. The authorities invoked critical articles on how the camps are run. They also criticise the press for fostering tensions between the two countries by reporting on the refugees' criticisms of the Burmese junta. The Bangkok government has however denied that this measure is aimed at calming its relations with Burma. Lastly, in Thailand once more, Khin Maung Soe, a reporter at Radio Free Asia, was interrogated at the end of June by the police in the frontier zone while he was investigating a rape committed by Thai policemen on a Burmese refugee.

BANGKOK, Thailand - Human rights activists on Tuesday slammed Thailand's decision to ban foreign journalists and political activists from visiting areas near refugee camps along the border with Myanmar.

Thai officials said on Monday they would prohibit visits to certain areas without permission, citing security reasons. Observers said the move was a bid to appease Myanmar's ruling junta, with whom Thailand has been engaged in a war of words since May 20, when the Thai army fired mortar shells that landed in Myanmar.

National security chief Kachadpai Buruspatana denied that charge, saying in a statement the decision was based on a ``principle of righteousness.''

On Tuesday, the Asian Forum for Human Rights And Development protested Thailand's decision as well as Myanmar's move last week to blacklist 15 Thai journalists.

``It is not legitimate for governments to try to suppress critical reporting and we call on both governments to revoke immediately these travel bans,'' the regional rights group said in a statement.

The group's secretary general, Somchai Homlaor, said most non-governmental organizations would not be affected as they already have permission from the Interior Ministry to visit camps.

``Those who really suffer aren't camp refugees but the villagers fleeing the fighting in Myanmar that are scattered along the border,'' Somchai told The Associated Press.

There are more than 100,000 refugees _ many of them supporters of Myanmar rebel groups in camps in Thailand along the border.

Kachadpai has said the restrictions would not apply to Thai journalists. ``We're not trying to muzzle the media,'' he said in the statement.

Non-governmental organizations involved in political campaigns rather than humanitarian assistance would also be barred from visiting the camps, he added

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said last month he would try to mend frayed relations with Myanmar by cutting ties with ethnic insurgents along the border.

He didn't give other details, but said the activities of the many non-governmental organizations working along the border might be restricted.

Relations between Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, and Thailand plunged to an all-time low after the May 20 incident.

Myanmar accused the Thai military of supporting ethnic Shan rebels. Thailand said it merely fired warning shots across the border after the fighting between the Shan and the Myanmar military spilled onto Thai soil.

BANGKOK - The Thai National Security Council announced that nongovernmental organizations (NGO) and foreign journalists would be banned from the border camps of displaced Myanmar following reports that some helped Myanmar rebels in the camps, the Nation newspaper reported Tuesday. Kajadpai Burutpatana, chief of the council, was quoted as saying that the Thai government has the authority to prohibit NGOs from the camps because the area is under martial law, which allows the army to limit accessibility for safety reasons. The report said the decision was a result of some NGOs exceeding their role in providing humanitarian assistance to the refugees by reportedly aiding opponents to the Myanmar government. Foreign journalists were also banned from the camps because they reported negatively on camp administration and relayed comments from Myanmar refugees critical of the government. Kajadpai also stressed that the move to bar the NGOs and foreign journalists from the camps was not to please Myanmar but to ensure peace and safety in the border areas. He did not say when the new restriction comes into force.

BANGKOK - Human rights and development watchdog Forum-Asia on Monday called for Thailand and Myanmar to lift recent bans on their journalists and comply with international standards of press freedom.

The Bangkok-based group condemned directives by the Thai foreign ministry on barring two Myanmar journalists from entering Thailand and Yangon's military junta which banned 15 Thai journalists from Myanmar.

"We call on both governments to immediately revoke the blacklists," Forum-Asia said in a statement.

"These absurd directives of the Thai government and the SPDC (the ruling State Peace and Development Council) once again violate freedom to express the view of the media and the right to receive information which directly relate to public interest of both countries," it added.

The tit-for-tat bans have fuelled a diplomatic brawl between the historic adversaries, which was sparked by a border crisis that erupted in May.

They began June 28 when Thailand blacklisted Ma Tin Win, the author of a series of articles in the official press accused of insulting Thailand's revered monarchy, and editor Maung Maung of the New Light of Myanmar.

On July 12 the SPDC announced it barred 15 Thai reporters from entering Myanmar on the grounds they wrote anti-government articles aimed at damaging bilateral ties.

"Both governments should report the actual information to the public, rather than blacklisting the journalists," Forum-Asia said.

Relations between the neighbours soured badly in May following clashes along the border during which ethnic Shan rebels overran Myanmar military bases.

Myanmar accused Thailand of providing support to the rebels, a claim the Thai military has consistently denied.

After both countries exchanged protests on May 20, Yangon slammed shut its checkpoints on the Thai border, banned visiting official delegations and launched a nationalistic tirade against Thailand in the state-run media. .

Fifty-five mayors of towns all over France have signed a Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières) petition calling for the immediate release of Burmese journalist Win Tin, who has been imprisoned for the past 13 years and is now 72 years old.

Burma¹s most famous journalist, also a close adviser of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), has now spent more than 4,380 days in jail since his arrest on 4 July 1989. The petition was organised with the help of the monthly magazine Maires de France, which supports the journalist.

Despite his poor health, the country¹s military rulers decided at the end of May to return him to his special cell at Rangoon¹s Insein after several months in the city¹s general hospital, where he was convalescing after a hernia operation.

His condition is stable at present but his return to prison could put his life in danger, as he has suffered from high blood pressure, diabetes and spondylitis (inflammation of the vertebrae) during his 13 years in jail.

Win Tin, former editor of the daily newspaper Hanthawathi and vice-president of the Burmese Writers¹ Association, was sentenced to a total of 20 years in prison, mainly for having sent details of prison conditions and ill-treatment in Insein jail to the UN Rapporteur for Burma. The authorities have several times offered to free him in exchange for his resignation from the NLD. He has always refused.

Reporters Without Borders knows of at least 16 journalists still imprisoned in Burma. It is particularly concerned about Sein Hla Oo, whose sentence expired last August but who has still not been released. His family has not been allowed to visit him for several months.

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09.07.2002: RSF - RSF Highlights "Impunity Black List" & Role Of Local Justice As ICC Starts Work

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09.07.2002: CJFE, RSF Raise Press-Freedom Concerns As G8 Summit Nears

As leaders of the world's wealthiest nations prepare to gather for the G8 Summit in Alberta, Canada, this week, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) are raising concerns over security officials' refusal to grant local journalists access to the summit and press-freedom violations in Africa.

CJFE says the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the agency responsible for security at the summit, has rejected several requests from journalists to access the summit's media centre. The media center is located in Calgary, a one-hour drive from the town of Kananaskis, where the summit is being held.

The RCMP is also refusing to specify its reasons for turning down the requests, inviting journalists instead to use the Access to Information Act a process that can take weeks or months, notes CJFE. "That invitation constitutes a cynical abuse of process, coming at a time when the federal government is working to make Access to Information harder to use," the group says.

Meanwhile, RSF is calling on G8 Leaders preparing to meet a delegation of African leaders from the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) initiative to establish concrete measures aimed at improving press freedom in Africa. NEPAD's stated goals are to promote peace, security, democracy, proper governance, respect for human rights and sound economic management. RSF says these goals are unachievable "in the absence of a free, independent and pluralistic press" and are "bound to fail as long as its member states are not exemplary models for freedom of information."

The group singles out five countries Ethiopia, Cameroon, Tunisia, Rwanda and Gabon where press- freedom violations occur frequently and with impunity. In Ethiopia, three journalists have been detained for months after criticizing the government while a dozen others are expected to be charged in courts, RSF says. Conditions in Rwanda where

journalists are subject to threats and harassment make self-censorship "extremely widespread." All radio and television stations are also government-controlled.

In Tunisia, the few independent journalists who continue to work in the country face increasing pressure from the government, RSF says. Authorities have established an "Internet blockade" and in the latest incident, Zouhair Yahyaoui, founder of online magazine TUNeZINE.com has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for "circulating false information."

In Gabon, the only opposition newspaper has been banned while five journalists in Cameroon have been detained in the last 16 months for exposing government corruption.

As the International Criminal Court (ICC) began its work on 1 July, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) and the Damocles Network published an "impunity black list" of 21 countries where "murderers, abductors and torturers of journalists enjoy full impunity." The two organisations say that "in these countries, torture is often sanctioned by government policy and the judicial system is controlled by the executive branch or by corrupt political leaders who shield the criminals." The blacklist includes: Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burma, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Russia, Haiti, Iraq, Iran, Kosovo, Nepal, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Syria, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

RSF and the Damocles Network identify nine other countries "in which impunity is a way of life," but which have taken some initial steps to change this state of affairs. However, these countries "have yet to prove that this process is irreversible." These "watchlist" countries are: Georgia, Indonesia, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, the Philippines, Serbia-Montenegro, Sri Lanka and Turkey. The two organisations also praise countries that have clearly decided to confront the problem of impunity head-on and find a solution, namely Chile, Afghanistan, and East Timor.

Meanwhile, RSF and the Damocles Network point to Rwanda to illustrate the continued importance of justice at the local level, even as the world's attention focuses on the new ICC. On 1 July, the two organisations sent a delegation to Rwanda to monitor the establishment of local traditional courts and highlight cases of journalists who will appear before them. The organisations "fully support the establishment of the ICC, but point out that local and traditional courts also have a role in national reconciliation."

More than 120,000 people are in jail in Rwanda, including 30 journalists accused of participating in the 1994 genocide, note RSF and the Damocles Network. Both organisations say that at least two of the journalists, Dominique Makeli and Tatiana Mukakibibi, are being held simply because they did their job of informing the public.

RSF states that its interest in national traditional justice comes at a time of new tension between Rwandan authorities and officials of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and as recent court decisions in Belgium have challenged several assumptions of international criminal law. "More than ever, national courts have a leading part to play in the fight against impunity," says RSF.