'127 activists die in Burmese custody'

At least 127 pro-democracy activists have died in the custody of Burma’s ruling junta, most of them after torture and ill-treatment in the country’s network of prisons and interrogation centres, a report by an opposition group released today said.

The Thailand-based group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma, said it was submitting the report as a test case to the newly established UN Human Rights Council, which is to hold its first meeting June 19 in Geneva.

The council replaces the widely criticised UN Commission on Human Rights.

The association, made up of former political prisoners who fled the country, said 90 of the 127 died in prisons, eight in interrogation centres, four in labour camps and 10 shortly after being released. Another 15 disappeared while in custody.

There were likely many more cases of deaths since 1998, when the current junta seized power after brutally crushing mass pro-democracy demonstrations led by Aung San Suu Kyi, it said.