marches for women prisoners of Burma

March 9, Democratic Voice of Burma
Marchers call for release of women political prisoners – Yee May Aung

Exiled Burmese women’s activist group, the Women’s League of Burma, have
marked International Women’s Day by calling for the release of all women
political prisoners in Burma.

The WLB in India, Bangladesh and Thailand yesterday organised social
gatherings, discussion forums and marches to show solidarity for
imprisoned women activists.

Saw Mya Yazar Linn, a board member of the WLB, said that about 50 people
attended the Women’s Day discussion forum organised by the group in Dhaka,
Bangladesh.

“In the forum, we mainly discussed the government’s upcoming elections in
2010, which was based on a constitution which won’t do anything good for
the people of Burma,” he said.

“We call for the release of all women political prisoners in Burma,
including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Ma Nilar Thein, Mee Mee and Su Su Nway.

“We also call for the release of Ni Ni Myint who is being detained and
tortured in Arakan’s Butheetaung prison, and Ma Pan Pan Yin who is also
detained in Arakan state,” he added.

Thin Thin Aung, joint secretary of the WLB, who was in India yesterday,
said Burmese woman groups in capital New Delhi and Mizoram state’s Aizawl
gathered up to mark the Women’s Day in discussion forums.

“We invited Burmese women migrants to the forum in Aizawl and lectured
them about the Women’s Day: how it started, about the women’s rights
movements around the world and on how Burmese and other women around the
world were being discriminated,” he said.

WLB’s other joint-secretary, Tin Tin Nwe, said the group, along with
several other women and NGOs in Chiang Mai, Thailand, organised a march to
show support for the Burmese women activists under detention.

“The WLB cooperated with the Migrant Assistance Program foundation and the
Empower group to organise the march together,” said Tin Tin Nwe.

“During the march, we called for a release of all women political
prisoners in Burma, and also for a round table dialogue which involves all
the political groups.”

Dr. Myint Cho, of Australia-Burma council in Sydney, Australia, said
Burmese women living there also joined together in a protest.