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Rights Group Says Arrests in Burma Continue Despite Government Pledge


Amnesty International has condemned the continuing arrests of political activists inside Burma despite what it says was the government's pledge to stop.

The London-based rights group on Tuesday published details of the arrest of several activists since early November.

Amnesty says Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein made a commitment to Ibrahim Gambari to halt the arrests when the U.N. special envoy met with him earlier this month.

Burmese officials say 15 people were killed and nearly 3,000 detained in the September crackdown. Diplomats and human rights groups say the figures are much higher.

Also Tuesday, a British academic organization gave Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi a lifetime achievement award.

She has spent 12 of the last 18 years under some form of detention and remains under house arrest in Rangoon.

A Burmese human rights campaigner accepted the Political Studies Association's special award for lifetime achievement in politics on her behalf during Tuesday's award ceremony in London.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won elections in 1990, but Burma's government refused to recognize the results and prevented the party from taking office.

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