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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Nadine Hoffman
Win Tin named “Journalist of the Year”
by Reporters Without Borders
The Leadership Council for Human Rights is pleased to announce that U Win Tin has been named the 2006 “Journalist of the Year” by Reporters Without Borders for his commitment to freedom of the press. The award was presented Tuesday in Paris. LCHR recently “adopted” U Win Tin through a Reporters Without Borders program that pairs organizations with journalists who have been imprisoned for political dissent. Reporters Without Borders estimates that there are currently more than 130 journalists worldwide in jail for speaking out against their governments.
U Win Tin, a 76-year-old Burmese journalist, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for "subversion" and "anti-government propaganda" in 1989. After more than 17 years in prison and despite faltering health and extremely poor prison conditions, the country's most renowned journalist will not give way. In his special cell at Insein jail, near Rangoon, Saya, "The Sage,” as his comrades call him, refuses to renounce his commitment to the National League for Democracy (despite being offered his freedom for doing so), robbed by the military junta of a landslide electoral victory in 1990. He continues to call for the unconditional release of thousands of prisoners of opinion held in the country's prisons. U Win Tin was one of the political mentors of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who also remains deprived of her freedom. U Win Tin has been physically weakened by a urinary infection and two heart attacks, but he has not been mentally weakened as he continues to fight from his prison cell.
Because of the conditions under which Win Tin is being held, it is very possible that he remains unaware that he has even received this award. LCHR will continue to provide updates on U Win Tin and his condition as part of the journalist adoption program.
To sign a petition for his release, please click here. |
