Activists demand treatment for detained protesters in Myanmar; 41 on hunger strike

YANGON, Myanmar: Pro-democracy activists demanded medical treatment Tuesday for scores of injured protesters imprisoned in Myanmar following demonstrations over high fuel prices, as 41 detainees continued a hunger strike.

A Washington-based activist group, the U.S. Campaign for Burma, said 41 detainees — including seven women — have staged a hunger strike since Aug. 30 to demand medical care for a colleague, who reportedly suffered a broken leg during his arrest.

The group also called on Myanmar's military government to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross access to the prisoners, most of whom have been detained since protests broke out Aug. 19 in the impoverished country.

"Many detainees were beaten brutally ... during the arrests and therefore they all have sustained injuries, but they are not receiving any medical treatment by the authorities," the U.S. Campaign for Burma said in a statement.

ICRC official Thierry Ribaux said the Red Cross remains barred from prisons in Myanmar, also known as Burma. The ban was imposed in December 2005 and discussions with the junta have failed to end it.

A family member of one detained activist on a hunger strike, requesting anonymity for fear of official retaliation, said the detainees were moved to two separate locations outside Yangon on Sunday night.

Myanmar's junta has beaten and detained scores of activists and used gangs of hired thugs in Yangon to curtail a rare wave of protests that began after fuel prices were raised overnight by as much as 500 percent.

Last week, protests reached Mandalay, one of the country's biggest cities and a popular tourist destination.

About 15 people held a small protest in Kyaukse, the hometown of junta leader Gen. Than Shwe, on Monday. Kyaukse is located about 530 kilometers (330 miles) north of Yangon. Demonstrators eluded several junta thugs in trucks who attempted to stop the march.

The U.N.'s independent expert on human rights in Myanmar, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, said Friday in Geneva he received reports that some people had been "severely beaten and tortured" while in detention.

The regime's recent heavy-handed tactics have drawn condemnation from world leaders.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. The current junta — which has come under widespread international criticism for violating human rights — tolerates little public dissent.

In 1988, public protests over rising rice prices were a prelude to a burst of major demonstrations that were violently subdued by the army, which killed hundreds, perhaps thousands.