U.S. Troubled by Death of Myanmar Political Prisoner 
October 18, 2006
The New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-myanmar-usa.html
The United States said on Wednesday that it was ``deeply troubled'' by the death of a political prisoner in military-ruled Myanmar and called for the release of all political prisoners held in former Burma.
``This death demonstrates the tragic price the people of Burma are forced to pay for opposing the repressive policies of the regime and standing up for their human and democratic rights,'' State Department spokesman Tom Casey said in a statement.
Democracy activist Ko Thet Win Aung, 34, had been imprisoned since 1998 for organizing peaceful student demonstrations and was serving a 59-year prison sentence.
Relatives and the London-based rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday Thet Win Aung died in Mandalay Prison where he had been tortured and suffered from malaria.
He was a brother of Ko Pyone Cho, a prominent student leader of a 1988 pro-democracy uprising in which several thousand people were killed. Ko Pyone Cho was among six pro-democracy activists arrested in September.
``We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi, these six activists, and all other political prisoners; and for the initiation of a genuine process of national reconciliation,'' Casey said.
According to the United Nations, Myanmar has more than 1,100 political prisoners, including Nobel peace laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 10 of the last 17 years.