Don146;t fall silent now

It was around this time last year when scenes from Burma flooded our television screens, our airwaves and our newspapers as Britain 8212; and the world 8212; became glued to the unfolding 8220;Saffron Revolution8221;. Thousands upon thousands of monks took to the streets to lead a popular uprising 8212; appalled in part by the dire human rights situation in their homeland. And8230; those protests in Burma were met by brutal force from the ruling military junta. Hundreds were injured in the crackdown as the security forces unleashed a wave of batons and bullets. Official sources put the death toll at 13 8212; the real figure is believed to be far higher. Thousands were rounded up, monks were swept off the streets and a strict curfew imposed8230;

A year on it is time to once more remember the plight of those that remain and renew the call for urgent action from the United Nations security council. Nearly 1,000 people remain in detention for their part in those protests 8212; each one is at risk of torture 8212; and over 800 political prisoners have been sentenced to prison terms. The arrests themselves show what scant regard the Burmese authorities have for international opinion. In November 2007, the Burmese prime minister Thein Sein promised the global community that there would be no more political arrests. Yet just last month, Nilar Thein, the wife of an 88 Generation Student Group leader, was arrested while on a visit to her mother. Her baby daughter has been left in the care of relatives. On the eve of the crackdown, there were approximately 1,150 political prisoners in Burma. One year on, there are more than 2,100. And there are now more long-standing political prisoners in Burma than at any other time since the infamous August 8, 1988 uprising there 20 years ago, when 3,000 people were killed by the same military junta.

Excerpted from a comment by Kate Allen in 8216;The Guardian8217;