Date 23rd January 2005

It is reported that the imprisonment of Dr Than Nyein - a National
League for Democracy Party member and member of Parliament
for Kyauktan Township in Rangoon - has been extended for one
more year under Article 10 (a) of the 1975 State Protection Law,

Dr Than Nyein was the vice chairman of the organizing committee
for Rangoon district. He was arrested on February 17, 1997 and
sentenced to seven years imprisonment. His sentence finished on
July 23, 2004. However, his imprisonment was continuously
extended for two months, for a further three times. Furthermore,
he was transferred from Insein prison to Tharrawaddy prison, and
then again to Paungde prison, and finally Prome prison. After
these three extensions, he was sentenced yet again to one more
year under Article 10 (a).

On this matter, the secretary of the Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners Tate Naing said that "An unhealthy political
prisoner who has completed his imprisonment, and detained again
and again without any solid reason, is not being treated fairly,
either from a judicial or humanitarian viewpoint - it can cause the
victim further mental suffering. The current military junta should
review, reconsider, and account for their actions, if they truly
respect Human Rights and Democracy.

According to reliable sources, there are over seventy prisoners
who have been, or were, imprisoned under the State Protection
Law- after their original prison terms were completed- by the
successive military regimes, the SLORC and SPDC.

Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)