Rev. Danny Fisher

Reuters reports that a team of investigators who report to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva have called for the dozens of democracy activists in Burma recently tried and given harsh sentences in prison by the junta should be retried in open hearings. The investigators–who include Tomas Ojea Quintana, Leandro Despouy, Frank La Rue, Margaret Sekaggya, and Asma Jahangir–also “demanded the release of three defence lawyers, whom they said were sentenced to prison for contempt of court after raising clients’ complaints about the hearings held inside prisons.” Reuters continues:

“The closed-door hearings are being held inside prisons by courts which lack independence and impartiality,” the U.N. investigators said.

Myanmar authorities — whom activists say have intensified a campaign to crush dissent before a 2010 election — must “cease harassing and arresting individuals for peacefully exercising their internationally recognised human rights,” they said.