New Delhi – Veteran Burmese journalist and editor of Hantharwaddy publication U Win Tin, is currently suffering from severe ill-health and is needing immediate treatment for asthma.
Win Tin, age 79, who will complete 19 years on July 4, is suffering from asthma and his health situation is deteriorating. But he is not being provided proper treatment by the prison authorities, his friends and 'Association of Assistance to Political Prisoners in Burma' (AAPPB) said.
"Earlier, his health situation was not as bad. But when I saw him this time, he was suffering from excessive phlegm. I heard the sound of phlegm even when he laughed," Maung Maung Khin who met him on a prison visit last Saturday said.
"I was shocked to see him in this health condition. He couldn't eat and sleep well either and looked thinner," Maung Maung Khin added.
"The prison authorities should provide the elderly political prisoner, who has been in prison for a very long time, proper treatment and adequate medical care," he added.
The prison medics prescribed him an antidote to excessive exudation of phlegm. However, he had to buy this medicine from outside from his own pocket, Maung Maung Khin said.
"We found his health deteriorating because of old age. In fact, his release from prison is long overdue. The authorities tortured him physically and mentally by not releasing him. His life is at risk," Bo Kyi, Joint-Secretary of the Thai based AAPPB said.
"The prison authorities diagnose medical cases casually and prescribe medicine in a similar manner without examining the patients properly. Political prisoners do not get permission easily for treatment outside the prison," Bo Kyi added.
Win Tin underwent hernia surgery at Rangoon General Hospital early this year.
Win Tin has been calling for convening the parliament in accordance with the 1990 general election results and release of all political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi through his friends who come and meet him in prison regularly.
The government nationalized 'Hanthawady' paper in 1968 and shifted the paper to Mandalay for republishing. U Win Tin was appointed editor-in-chief of the paper in 1969.
The paper used to point out the drawbacks and weaknesses of the government functionaries in its editorials and articles and urged the government to redress the grievances of the people. Because of these articles and editorials, the paper was shut down again in 1978 by then 'Burma Socialist Programme Party' (BSPP) government.
Win Tin was in the NLD intelligentsia core group since its inception and was the political advisor of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. He was arrested in 1989 and was sentenced at least three times while he was serving his original prison term. Moreover though he has served his prison term and his release is long overdue, it has not been done.
He was awarded the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize and 'World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award' by UNESCO and the World Journalist body in 2001. The 'Reporters Sans Frontier' (RSF) awarded him the 'Winner of Reporters Without Border' prize in 2006.
