SPDC’s Cruelty and lies

GENEVA (AFP) - At least 31 people were killed in Myanmar during a crackdown on anti-government protests in September, a United Nations human rights expert Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said on Friday.

More than 600 people are detained and 74 listed as missing in the wake of the crackdown, and Myanmar's government has not taken serious steps to respect human rights,Pinheiro said in a report.
The junta had confirmed the deaths of 15 people during the unrest, but Pinheiro said he had received information that at least a further 16 people had been killed. He has provided a list to authorities of an additional 16 people killed in the crackdown, bringing his total to 31. Pinheiro also said he received "credible reports" from a monk detained between Sept. 27 and Oct. 5 that at least 14 individuals died in custody. These included eight monks and one boy, who died on the first day, the monk told Pinheiro, adding that the deaths were due to poor detention conditions. During his visit to the Htain Bin crematorium, authorities said 14 corpses were transferred from the Yangon General Hospital. The bodies were registered and cremated, but three of the dead could not be identified. Eleven of those cremated died as a result of firearm wounds.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro was denied access to the Ye Way crematorium in Yangon during his five-day trip to the country last month.

"Several reports of killings indicate that the figure provided by the authorities may greatly understimate the reality," the special rapporteur said in a report that will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council next week.

"The use of lethal force by law enforcement officials from 26 to 29 September, 2007 in Myanmar was inconsistent with the fundamental principles reflected in the basic international norms deriving from international customary law," he added.

Detainees remain subject to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and torture with political activists and human rights defenders targeted, Pinheiro said.

"Since the crackdown there have been an increasing number of reports of deaths in custody as well as beatings, ill-treatment, lack of food, water or medical treatment in overcrowded unsanitary detention facilities across the country," he added.