The [him] moderator thinks the previous eleven have been released but Phyu Phyu Tin is still in custody.
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HIV Patients Campaign for Activists’ Release
Aye Lae
Irrawaddy
25 June 2007
Hundreds of HIV/AIDS patients in Rangoon have called for the release of 11 HIV activists, including Phyu Phyu Thin, currently being held in police custody at an unknown location, according to sources in the former capital.
“We sent a letter signed by hundreds of patients to authorities at the Ministry of Home Affairs,” Tin Ko, an HIV patient, told The Irrawaddy by phone o?n Monday. “She [Phyu Phyu Thin] is essential.”
Phyu Phyu Thin, a National League for Democracy youth member and a leader in the group's HIV/AIDS section, was arrested o?n May 21 during a prayer campaign for the release of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Phyu Phyu Thin had been working to help HIV/AIDS patients through education, counseling, housing and arranging for medical care.
Family members of Phyu Phyu Thin also confirmed to The Irrawaddy that the detained activists have initiated a hunger strike.
"Today is the seventh day of [Phyu Phyu Thin’s] hunger strike," Sabae Thin, a sister of Phyu Phyu Thin, said. "We received the information o?n Saturday through sources where she was kept. But the authorities have refused to give any information about where she is detained. We are concerned very much about her health."
Phyu Phyu Thin and other detained activists were believed to be detained at facilities in the Kyaikkasan stadium in Rangoon, where another Suu Kyi supporter, Su Su Nway, was previously detained under close watch by female police officers, according to activist sources. She was released o?n June 7.
News of the detained HIV activists has generated little response outside of Burma, according to the moderator of an Internet blog site, known as HIM, that compiles news about HIV/AIDS in Burma.
“When an HIV activist goes missing in China, all hell breaks loose,” the moderator said. “The major mass media, blogs, email lists and powerful movers and shakers get involved. When Phyu Phyu Thin disappears in Myanmar [Burma], the international response is almost nothing.”
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=7644#
