E/CN.4/1990/17 page 34 106. The Government of Myanmar replied, in letters dated 13 February and 1 March 1989, that the person concerned had been detained on 8 November 1988 and kept in the Insein jail, under section 10(A) of the State Protection Law, for having sent false news and rumours about the situation in the country to the BBC, an offence to which he confessed during his interrogation. The Government affirmed that he had not been subjected to any form of torture, either during interrogation or while in detention, and that he was said to be in good health at the time the letter was sent (1 March 1989). A medical report dated 2 February 1989 by the officer in charge of the Central Jail hospital, Insein, was enclosed with the letter, affirming the person's good health. 107. On 20 January 1989 the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government of Myanmar concerning information alleging that Sao Myo Wyn Tun, Kyi Moe and Tu Ain Tin, along with 20 other students, had been forcibly repatriated from Thailand on 7 January.1989. After their return to Myanmar they were taken into military custody for questioning. A fourth student, Thant Zin, was reportedly repatriated to Myanmar on 26 December 1988 along with 81 others. He was arrested shortly after his arrival at his home town of Mergui in southern Myanmar. Fear was expressed that these four students may be subjected to torture. It was also reported that Zan Win Tun, resident in Yangon, had allegedly been arrested and held incommunicado without charge or trial. He was 6aid to have died after his release from military custody on 30 December 1988 as a result of severe ill-treatment sustained while in custody. 108. On 2 February 1989 the Government informed the Special Rapporteur that the three students mentioned in the cable had arrived in Yangon, together with 23 other students, on 7 January 1989, and were sent back to their homes the same morning or the next day. The fourth student had reportedly been interviewed in his home in Yangon on 7 January 1989, and categorically denied having been interrogated or harassed in any way. The allegation concerning the death of Zan Win Tun was flatly rejected, as part of an anti-Myanmar campaign. It was further affirmed that the repatriation of the students had not been forced as alleged, and that the students had returned home of their own accord. 109. On 2 October 1989 the Special Rapporteur addressed a letter to the Government of Nepal transmitting information alleging that Surendra Chettri, a worker at the Hetauda Engineering Works, died on or around 14 June 1989 in the District Hospital, allegedly as a result of torture to which he had been subjected one month earlier. He was reported to have been arrested by police, together with three other workers, on 16 May 1989 in connection with alleged involvement in the theft of a cash box in the Hetauda Engineering Works. It was alleged that the four suspects were tortured while in police custody, in order to obtain confessions. Surendra Chettri was later released and went back to his job, but his state of health was reported to be very poor, and on 14 June 1989 he fainted and started to bleed from his nose and ear, and later died of loss of blood. It was not known whether a post-mortem or any investigation into the cause of death had been conducted by the competent authorities.

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