The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

- 'WHH'CHURCH~SIOUFFVILLE THIS MONT H' â€" See Eon ‘www.swuflvllleonline.com' TRAIL BUCK EX 14183 .48 sham A group of Canadians in Stouffville and Markham have been working strenuously for nearly three years on behalf of one elected member of the NLD who has been imprisoned in inhuman conditions in lnsein Prison. Yangon since 1997. These local citizens are members of Amnesty lntemational, Group 54. They have sent hundreds of letters to government officials in Myanamar attempting to secure early release for this prisoner of conscience, or at least to improve the deplorable condi- tions under which she is forced to live. The prisoner is Daw May Win Myint, a trained doctor of medicine. Today she languishes in jail. suffering from multiple serious and potentially fatally maladies. She does not receive anything like adequate medical care. ln I990 the citizens of Myanamqr, in a democratic election. overwhelming elect- ed members of the National 'League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The ruling military iunta overturned the election results. imprisoned many leaders of the NLD and continued a despotic regime that still denies its thizens the basic human rights that we take as a given. To the Editor: Did you send a fax today? Or surf the web? Make an overseas telephone call?Rent a video or DVD? Do you expect a knock on the door tonight to find a mem- ber of the country's security forces waiting to arrest you? Of course not! You live in Canada. But if you lived in Myanamar, for- merly Burma, this scenario would be quite likely, with up to seven'years imprison- ment for activities not pre-authon‘zed by the appropriate government officials. . LETTER: Protecting human rights If you are interested in the work of Amnesty lntemational. check out www.Amnesty.ca or call 905-640â€"3840. Meanwhile, let's hope that editor Kate will not be subjected to the Myanamar I962 Printers and Publishers Registration Act and Law No. 5/96 and end up with 20 years in the Stouffville Pen! The work of Amnesty lntemational and its members is predicated upon the arti- cles of the I948 United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, drafted mostly by Canadian diplomat and statesâ€" man lohn Humphrey. Through all its 30 articles it focuses on the belief that all human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freeâ€" doms. The members of Group' 54 have under- taken previous lOng-term commitments on behalf of other pfisoners\oft conscience in South Korea, 'Sri Lanka and Egypt. This dedicated group, now in its 15th year, meets every three months to map out fur- ther letter writing actions and to discuss human rights issues around the world, including CanadaxBetween meetings the letters and e-mails fly overseas. Group 54 is part of a world-wide co-ordi- nated action, initiated by Amnesty lntemational in London, England. aiming to encourage officials in Myanamar to review and modify the 'emergency‘ insur- gency laws ’dating back to I950, to prevent unfair trials and summary sentences from military tribunals, and to ensure that those who have finished long ia'il' sentences for political ‘dissent not be automatically re- arrested upon release. " Roger Glazin Stoufifville APRIL 2004