Dying for a Human Rights Act

In Burma there is severe repression of all opposition to the military government. Hundreds of people are in prison for their political views, in conditions that are very harsh. Just yesterday the government put down a small protest about rising fuel prices with typical tactics they bundled several protestors into cars and took them away, thus scaring the others into stopping the protest.

There was a report on Channel 4 News last night about a truly inspiring Burmese artist who continued painting while in prison in Burma he used syringes and razor blades to paint on his clothing, and later smuggled more than 200 pieces of work out of prison. Some of these are now being exhibited in London.

And art is being used to draw attention to whats happening in Burma at the Edinburgh Festival, in a show about democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyis life.

As this blog keeps reminding you, Amnesty has a whole lot of events on at Edinburgh. Tomorrow one festival production will win our Freedom of Expression Award for making an outstanding contribution to the publics understanding of human rights.

If you want to take action on behalf of those in Burma who are a long way from the protection of a Human Rights Act you can do so here, on the case of 64 year old prisoner Saw Naing Naing who has been in prison for more than 14 years simply for being a member of the opposition.