Concern mounts for Myanmar prisoners as UN mulls action October 11, 2007 AFP Original Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h9ubNx0-ictvsYyX_D0dhxbQbPfQ http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h9ubNx0-ictvsYyX_D0dhxbQbPfQ Concern mounted on Thursday for about 1,000 pro-democracy protesters still detained in Myanmar, as the United Nations moved to scold the regime for last month's deadly crackdown on mass street rallies. Amnesty International raised the alarm, reporting that the junta had arrested a top democracy activist, while a monitoring group in Thailand has said that one protester died after being tortured during interrogation. Amnesty International is gravely concerned about all those arrested because of the widespread use of torture or other ill-treatment of people in custody, Catherine Baber, the rights group's acting Asia Pacific director, told AFP. The cloak of secrecy on the part of the Myanmar authorities deepens our concerns, she said in an e-mail from London. The rights watchdog said Hla Myo Naung, who took part in the recent protests, was arrested Wednesday at a Yangon clinic while seeking treatment for a ruptured cornea. Unless operated on soon, Hla Myo Naung may go blind in this eye, Amnesty said in a statement. At least 13 people were killed and about 2,100 arrested in a violent crackdown on rallies led by Buddhist monks across Myanmar in September. The protests posed the biggest threat to the junta's rule in nearly two decades. Myanmar's state-run media has said that more than half of those arrested during the protests have been released, but there has been little word of at least 950 still in custody. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), made up of former detainees who have fled to Thailand, on Wednesday said that one detained dissident had died as a result of torture during interrogation. AAPP maintains extensive contacts with prisons around Myanmar, and is one of the few groups able to get any reliable information about the conditions in which inmates live. The regime Thursday again lashed out at the West and at foreign media, which the junta accuses of fomenting the protests. Some big countries and internal elements who act as stooges of big countries took advantage and provoked the people into protests, the government mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar newspaper said. The paper also accused international broadcasters like BBC of airing stories to instruct internal stooges so that they can dance to the tune of the broadcasting services. The crackdown prompted the United States -- Myanmar's harshest critic -- to threaten new sanctions against the regime, the latest in a series of moves by the international community aimed at bringing the junta to task. A statement which strongly deplores the regime's conduct is soon expected from the 15-member UN Security Council in New York, after ambassadors reached a broad consensus on the wording of the draft. It calls on Myanmar's military regime and all other parties concerned to work together toward a de-escalation of the situation and a peaceful solution. Pressure also mounted on Myanmar's key allies India, China, and Russia -- some of whom pressed the UN Security Council to water down its statement -- to stop arms sales to Myanmar. It's time for the Security Council to end all sales and transfers of arms to a government that uses repression and fear to hang onto power, said Brad Adams, Asia director at New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch. On the streets of Yangon -- where the military unleashed tear gas and gunfire on peaceful protesters last month -- businesses struggled to recover after the security crackdown. Armed forces no longer patrol the streets, but a night-time curfew and a general climate of fear were keeping people inside. We are still afraid. We dare not talk about politics or protests or what happened in previous weeks, as we cannot differentiate between ordinary people and the militia groups, said a 40-year-old fruit vendor. We want to make our living. It's more important for us. I have to look after my family. Now my business is very low. The regime seems determined to continue with business as usual, and said in Thursday's New Light of Myanmar, its mouthpiece newspaper, that an auction of precious gems and jade would go ahead next month despite calls for a boycott. Industry group Jewelers of America this week asked the US Congress to specifically ban all gemstones mined in Myanmar.