(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release: Hong Kong, 4 June 2001 The Golden Pen of Freedom The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) on Monday awarded its annual press freedom prize, the 2001 Golden Pen of Freedom, to imprisoned Burmese journalists San San Nweh and U Win Tin in recognition of their outstanding […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release:
Hong Kong, 4 June 2001
The Golden Pen of Freedom
The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) on Monday awarded its annual press freedom prize, the 2001 Golden Pen of Freedom, to imprisoned Burmese journalists San San Nweh and U Win Tin in recognition of their outstanding services to the cause of press freedom.
San San Nweh and U Win Tin were imprisoned for their support of Burma’s freedom movement. Both have suffered unspeakable hardships, and both are in poor health. Prison authorities have offered to release them if they renounce all political activity, and both have refused to do so.
“We know that if they survive until 2010 and 2004, when their respective sentences expire, they have every intention of continuing their work in support of democracy in Burma,” said Ruth De Aquino, President of the World Editors Forum, who presented the award. She called their experiences “a tale of terror.”
The prize was accepted on their behalf by Burmese actor and democracy advocate Aung Ko, who said: “U Win Tin and San San Nweh will never lose their heart and never change their mind for the cause which is noble to them.”
“People often ask me if freedom of expression in Burma is controlled. I say no, because there is no freedom to be controlled, as it is confiscated,” he said.
The presentation was made during the opening ceremonies of the 54th World Newspaper Congress and 8th World Editors Forum, which drew nearly 1,000 newspaper publishers, senior executives, editors and their guests to Hong Kong,for the four-day annual meetings of the world’s press.
U Win Tin is the former editor of the daily Hanthawati newspaper, vice-chair of the Burmese Writers Association and a founder with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi of the National League of Democracy, Burma’s main pro-democracy party. The NLD’s landslide election victory in 1990 was not recognised by the military regime.
He is also the 2001 laureate of the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize.
U Win Tin was arrested in 1989, tried in a closed military court and sentenced to 14 years in prison for advocating democracy. A year later he played a leading role in a hunger strike inside the notorious Insein prison, and in 1995 he smuggled out letters describing prison conditions to Yozo Yokota, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights for the country.
For this act, U Win Tin was beaten, removed from all human contact, deprived of all writing materials, transferred to Myingyan Jail in the north of Rangoon and sentenced to an additional seven years imprisonment. He is suffering from degeneration of the spine, heart disease, chronic dental problems and high blood pressure.
Dissident writer San San Nweh, 56, was the first woman to train as a journalist in Burma. She was editor of two journals - Gita Ppade-tha and Einmet-hpu - and is a novelist and poet.
She was imprisoned for ten years in August 1994 for “anti-government reports” to French journalists and for “providing information about the human rights situation to the UN special rapporteur for Burma.”
She is reportedly sharing a tiny cell with three other political ‘convicts’ forced to squat because of lack of head room, and allowed to talk for only 15 minutes a day. She is suffering from kidney infection, arthritis, partial paralysis, high blood pressure and eye problems.
WAN, the global association of the newspaper industry, has awarded the Golden Pen annually since 1961. Past winners include Argentina’s Jacobo Timerman (1980), Russia’s Sergei Grigoryants (1989), China’s Gao Yu (1995), and Vietnam’s Doan Viet Hoat (1998). The 2000 winner was Nizar Nayouf of Syria.
Editors: Photos of U Win Tin and San San Nweh are available for use from the WAN web site, www.wan-press.org.
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 17,000 newspapers; its membership includes 68 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 93 countries, 17 news agencies and eight regional and world-wide press groups.
