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Alert

Publisher released from prison after serving full sentence

(Mizzima News/IFEX) - Writer Aung Kyaw San, who is also the publisher of the "Myanmar Tribune", was released from Taunggyi Prison in Shan State. He had been sentenced to two years in prison under Section 7 of the Unlawful Association Act by the Insein Prison court. The case stemmed from his volunteer work helping search for and burying corpses in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.

"I was sentenced to eight years in prison, but my sentence was reduced", said Aung Kyaw San. "I served two years and seven months and 11 days, including the interrogation period. My detention during the interrogation was not counted. The junta seems flexible, but in fact they have become worse. Political prisoners didn't get some rights which other prisoners got," he told Mizzima.

Describing prison conditions, he said reading is allowed in Taunggyi Prison and political prisoners are allowed to watch TV two days per week, but could not watch the news. Other types of prisoners have daily access to TV, he said.

Aung Kyaw San said that in 1989, he was arrested for his political actions, but when he was arrested in 2008 it was for involvement in cyclone relief operations. "It was unfair," he said.

He said he was arrested by a Military Affairs Security Unit on his way from Bogale Township to Rangoon, after burying and cremating the dead bodies of cyclone victims.

While in prison, he said he translated books by Dr. Than Tun, a Burmese historian, and he planned to publish the books, along with some books by Ludu Daw Ah Mar.

His journal "Myanmar Manager" was banned in 1996. He published the "Myanmar Tribune" before his arrest.