U Sein Than is a Burmese land reform activist who was imprisoned for his role in protests in Michaungkan village,

Thingangyun Township Thingangyun Township (, ) is located in the eastern part of Yangon, Myanmar. The township comprises 38 wards, and shares borders with South Okkalapa township in the north, North Dagon township in the east, Yankin township and Tamwe township in th ...

Yangon Region Yangon Region(, ; formerly Rangoon Division and Yangon Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar. Located in the heart of Lower Myanmar, the division is bordered by Bago Region to the north and east, the Gulf of Martaban to the south, ...

. In the 1990s, the

Tatmadaw Tatmadaw (, , ) is the official name of the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include th ...

(Burmese armed forces) seized hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland in the region. U Sein Than led a protest against these seizures in November 2013, and a sit-in in

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

's Maha Bandula Park in March 2014. In April 2014, he organized a protest outside the home of opposition leader

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2 ...

, calling on her to intervene in the dispute. U Sein Than has been arrested several times for his role in the Michaungkan protests. He was sentenced to three months' imprisonment on 26 November 2013 for protesting without permission, and given an additional sentence of six months on 9 December 2013 on a second charge. He was then released by presidential amnesty on 13 December 2013. On 19 August 2014, he was sentenced to four months of penal labour for protesting without permission; a day later, he was sentenced to an additional four months' imprisonment, extending his sentence to a total of eight months. Amnesty International designated U Sein Than a prisoner of conscience and called for his immediate and unconditional release. U Sein Than has a wife, Daw Saw Sandar, and a daughter, Nay Nwe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sein Than, U Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Myanmar Burmese activists Burmese prisoners and detainees Living people Year of birth missing (living people)