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UN Rights Envoy Meets Prisoners in Burma


Tomas Ojea Quintana, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burma (file photo)
Tomas Ojea Quintana, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burma (file photo)

The United Nations' special envoy for human rights has visited with prisoners in a northwest Burmese jail.

Officials say Tomas Ojea Quintana traveled to the northwestern state of Rakhine to meet Wednesday with detainees being held at the Butheetaung prison near the border with Bangladesh.

He is also expected to visit Burma's infamous Insein prison near Rangoon, and travel to Naypyidaw, Burma's administrative capital, to meet with several officials from Burma's military government.

He is scheduled to leave Burma on Friday.

Ahead of his trip to the region, the military released National League for Democracy vice chairman Tin Oo, after seven years of detention.

NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains one of 2,100 political dissidents being held in Burma. She has been under some form of detention in Burma for 14 of the past 20 years.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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