Myanmar Opposition Member Dies in Interrogation

An activist group says that a member of a pro-democracy opposition party in Myanmar was killed during interrogation by the military government.

The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says the family of Win Shwe was recently told about his death in the central region of Sagaing, The Associated Press reports. Win Shwe and five colleagues had been arrested on the first day of the government's crackdown on protesters.

He belonged to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. The activist group said his body was cremated. Although AP could not verify the report, it said in the past the group "has provided detailed, accurate information on political prisoners in Myanmar."

The reports of Win Shwe's death prompted threats of further sanctions from the White House. But some experts and leaders in the region say sanctions could be counterproductive.

Priscilla Clapp, the U.S. chief of mission in Myanmar from 1999 to 2002, writes in a working paper for the U.S. Institute of Peace that the development of multiple layers of sanctions has moved the U.S. "to a backseat position" in the effort to persuade the country's military rulers to move toward democracy. Clapp writes that it could be more constructive for the U.S. to "work in partnership with Burma's neighbors to ease the generals into reform and transition, rather than simply exhorting their governments to copy U.S. policy."

That approach was echoed recently by Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, who said "China and India are critical to any international approach."

11:51 AM ET | 10-11-2007 | permalink