UN rights expert steps up pressure on Myanmar

A UN human rights expert on Friday stepped up pressure on Myanmar's government to free all political prisoners, amid speculation that pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi could be released on April 16.
The UN Special Rapporteur for Myanmar, Paolo Sergio Pinheiro, warned the military junta that there was a "good probability" that its seven-point roadmap for change to civilian rule would fail unless all political detainees were freed immediately.
"You cannot have a National Convention if people are threatened to be detained because of what they say, you cannot have a National Convention with 1,300 prisoners," Pinheiro told journalists.
"My expectations are very modest but they are immediate steps that cannot be postponed," he said. Pinheiro, who has not visited Myanmar since last November, also said there was speculation that Aung San Suu Kyi could be released soon.
"There are some expectations that she will be released by the water festival on April 16," he said. "I hope that this will happen, it's very important," he added.
But Pinheiro cautioned that Suu Kyi must be allowed to operate as the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader once she is freed.
The NLD suffered a severe clampdown after Aung San Suu Kyi and her entourage were attacked and detained on May 30, 2003. Pinheiro told the UN Human Rights Commission on Friday that he estimated that about 1,300 political prisoners were still in the Myanmar's jails, and that arrests had continued into this year.
He acknowledged that "transition from a long military regime to a democratic one is a difficult and painful process".
"But a political transition towards democracy that does not respect human rights principles risks failure," he told the 53 member states in the assembly.
In his report to the commission's annual meeting, Pinheiro warned that Myanmar's already troubled human rights landscape had deteriorated in 2003.
Pinheiro gave a cautious assessment in the report of the appointment of a new prime minister last August and the junta's seven-point roadmap for change to civilian government.