[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 66 (Tuesday, May 6, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S5768]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN BURMA

  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I rise today to call attention to the gross 
violations of human and religious rights in Burma. Dr. Salai Tun Than, 
a University of Wisconsin alumni, who was released over the weekend in 
Burma, initiated a hunger strike protesting the human and religious 
rights violations at the prison where he was held. Dr. Tun Than had 
been serving a 7-year prison sentence in Burma for handing out copies 
of a petition demanding political reforms.
  Dr. Tun Than, 75, has severe health problems that required medical 
treatment, which he was not granted. The conditions that he and other 
prisoners endured were violations of international human rights laws. 
Restrictions on communications between prisoners, unsanitary prison 
conditions and forced ``hooding'' as prisoners were transported outside 
are examples of the violations. As a Christian, Dr. Tun Than also was 
protesting violations in religious freedom which included not being 
allowed a Bible or to receive Communion.
  During my Senate career I have been an advocate for human rights and 
religious freedoms for every individual across the globe. I am saddened 
by the conditions in which Dr. Tun Than and other prisoners in Burma 
have had to live. It is my hope that the Burmese Government will 
recognize religious and human rights, not only to their prisoners, but 
to their general populace as well.

                          ____________________