Win Tin, U

   (1930- )

   A distinguished journalist and writer, at present one of Burma's most prominent political prisoners. He served as editor of the Hanthawaddy newspaper until 1978, when the presentation of a paper critical of the Burma Socialist Programme Party at a writers' circle he sponsored resulted in his losing his post and the Hanthawaddy being closed down by the government. Between 1978 and 1988, he was a freelance writer, then became active in the Burma Writers' Union during 1988 and secretary to the executive committee of the National League for Democracy, advising Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders. Imprisoned in June 1989 for allegedly having a telephone conversation with an antistate element, his prison sentence was extended without trial three times, and he remained confined as of mid2005. Suffering from ill health, he has been kept since 1997 in guarded hospital wards at Insein Jail and Rangoon General Hospital.