Amnesty urges release of Myanmar journalist turning 75 in prison

March 11 (AFP) - The rights group Amnesty International renewed its calls Friday for the release of U Win Tin, one of Myanmar's best-known journalists who will turn 75 as the country's longest serving prisoner of conscience this weekend.

U Win Tin, a key opposition figure, was arrested in July 1989 and sentenced 20 years hard labor. He turns 75 on Saturday, having spent more than one-fifth of his life in prison.

"U Win Tin's imprisonment highlights how the justice system in Myanmar has been misused in order to silence peaceful government critics," the director of Amnesty's Asia Pacific program, Natalie Hill, said in a statement.

"His 75th birthday is a reminder that the consequences of long-term abuses of justice are too great for the authorities to ignore. Authorities must stop criminalizing peaceful dissent, and take concrete steps to improve the administration of justice."

Amnesty said U Win Tin was in poor health, worsened by inadequate access to medical care, being held in a dog cage, without bedding, and being deprived of food and water for long periods of time.

The international rights group estimates military-ruled Myanmar has some 1,300 political prisoners, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest.