Senior General Than Shwe
Chairman – State Peace and Development Council
Ministry of Defense
Ahlanpya Phaya Street
Yangon
Union of Myanmar

Re: Ye Htut

Your Excellency,

Ye Htut, a student, was arrested September 27, 1995, by military intelligence agents in Yangon. He was suspected of sending “incriminating documents” (according to the New Light of Myanmar) to a member of the Burma Information Group in Bangkok. It is believed that the communications were in the form of letters to Aung Zaw, a member of that group. It was apparently alleged by the government that some of the information transmitted appeared in opposition journals. Under international law it is not illegal to send information to friends and contacts abroad.

Article 19 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights protects the right of freedom of expression including “the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers.” YE HTUT was sentenced that year to seven years in prison meaning that his sentence ran out in 2002. Yet no reports have been received that he was ever released.

I write this letter in order to call your personal attention to the case of YE HTUT and ask that you intercede on his behalf by seeking his immediate and unconditional release. I would be pleased and honored if you should decide to reply to me.

Sincerely yours,

cc: U Myint Lwin, Embassy of the Union of Myanmar — Washington, D.C.