Burma sentences three to death for UN contacts

Burma has sentenced three men to death for having contacts with the UN’s International Labour Organisation.

Representatives of the ILO met the three men and ”consider that they have been condemned on unsound grounds and thus should be released,” the UN organisation today.

“Under no circumstances should anyone be prosecuted for contacts with the ILO,” it said, demanding “the matter be settled by the government of Myanmar (Burma) rapidly.”

The ILO has worked for years to end forced labour in Burma.

The three were among nine people found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death last November, it said.

ILO officials met two of the men in a Rangoon prison earlier this month with the “full cooperation” of prison authorities.

The men described being interrogated by military intelligence officials for several days, beaten, deprived of food, water and sleep, the document said.

Burma’s military junta faces widespread international disapproval for its poor human rights and anti-democracy record.

Allegations persist that villagers are forced to work on government projects or used as army porters, despite banning forced labour in 1999.