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Burma: Political Prisoners

Volume 481: debated on Thursday 23 October 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the number of political prisoners in Burma. (228212)

In his report to the UN General Assembly of 5 September 2008, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma stated that

“according to reliable sources, some 2,000 political and civil activists were still imprisoned in Myanmar”.

This is consistent with other reports the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has received. We continue to raise the need for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, in all our contacts with the Burmese regime and those countries with influence over it.