Yomiuri staff member beaten in Rang

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Yomiuri staff member beaten in Rangoon

The Daily Yomiuri
December 4, 1996

Yomiuri Staff Member Beaten
by Shigefumi Takasuka, Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

Bangkok -- A local news assistant covering student demonstrations for The
Yomiuri Shimbun in Yangon was attacked by police and detained for more than
four hours by military authorities early Tuesday.

Myo Thant, a 39-year-old Myanmar national, was hit in the head and back more
than 20 times by more than 10 club-wielding policemen after passing through
a blockade line set up by authorities, he said.

Thant said he obtained approval from police to enter the cordoned-off area
to cover student demonstrations near the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.

Police beat him even after repeated explanations that he was covering the
demonstrations as a news assistant for The Yomiuri Shimbun.  Police
continued to beat him even after he showed them a press identity card issued
by the Information Ministry, he said.

The policemen then detained Thant and his driver in a police truck for about
two hours before taking them to Yangon military district headquarters.

Thant was released after he identified himself to military intelligence
officers.

The authorities did not explain the attack on Thant, or why they detained
him, to The Yomiuri Shimbun



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