An international press freedom advocacy group is calling for the unconditional release of Burmese journalist U Win Tin who is about to spend his 76th birthday in prison.
The Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders issued a joint statement Friday, along with the Burma Media Association saying U Win Tin has been deprived of basic human rights. They say he is not allowed to write and has been denied proper medical care for chronic health ailments.
The statement says that since the beginning of the year, he has been denied visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross.
U Win Tin was arrested in 1989 and is serving a 20-year sentence for writing anti-government propaganda. He will turn 76 March 12.