Eleven HIV-positive activists detained by military
Democratic Voice of Burma
6 June 2007

Eleven activists living with HIV in Burma were detained by police
yesterday after being lured to the Weibagi hospital in Rangoon with
promises of free treatment.

The activists, including high-profile campaigner Ko Tin Ko, have
reportedly angered the military over the past few weeks by repeatedly
calling for the release of detained aid worker Ma Phyu Phyu Thin.

Phyu Phyu Thin, who was arrested by the authorities on May 21, worked for
the National League for Democracy and ran a small clinic that provided
free antiretroviral treatment and accommodation to a group of at least 30
HIV-positive people from around the country.

Phyu Phyu Thin’s sister, Ma Sabai Oo, told DVB that the group of activists
had been told by the authorities to be at Weibagi hospital at 9am
yesterday to receive free medication.

“After they were taken, they never returned . . . so we rang the hospital
and we were told that [the authorities] evacuated a room at the hospital
yesterday and as soon as Ko Tin Ko and his friends arrived they locked
them in that room and told them they were detained,” Ma Sabai Oo said.

She said the group had been invited to the hospital by a man claiming to
work for the Ministry of Health but that it was not clear which arm of the
government had ordered the group’s detention.

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