Among his many awards, U Win Tin has won the World Press Freedom Prize and the Golden Pen of Freedom. But in March this year he spent his 73rd birthday behind bars in the notorious Insein Prison in Burma, now known as Myanmar.
He has been in prison for 14 years.
His crime was to be one of the founding members of the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, set up in 1988 to challenge decades of military rule.
In 1990, the new party won a landslide victory in the first democratic election in many years.
But a military coup overturned the election result and put many of the newly elected MPs and NLD supporters in prison.
General Than Shwe, leader of the coup, is still in power at the head of the ironically named State Peace and Development Council.
A prominent journalist and writer, U Win Tin was originally sentenced to three years in prison, but his sentence was extended twice, most recently in March 1996 as a punishment for smuggling out a report to the United Nations describing the appalling prison conditions in Insein.
He and four or five of his colleagues were moved to a small military cell, measuring eight by ten feet.
They had no blankets and were allowed to leave the cell for only ten minutes a day to shower.
They were detained like this for two months.
U Win Tin’s rapidly deteriorating health is believed to have been caused by a lack of adequate food, water, sanitation and medical care in prison.
In June 2002 he was taken to Yangon, or Rangoon, General Hospital, but was denied the operation doctors said he needed.
Recent events in Burma have led to a further surge in arrests and killings of members of the National League for Democracy.
During a government-sanctioned tour of upper Burma, members and supporters of the NLD were attacked by a mob armed with sharpened sticks, clubs and iron bars.
They blocked the motorcade and began attacking NLD supporters and the vehicles in which Aung San Suu Kyi, U Tin Oo, and other NLD leaders were travelling.
Youth members and others attempted to protect the leaders, and some may well have been injured or killed in the attempt.
Many other supporters were said to have been beaten by attackers, several of them to death. Attackers repeatedly hit the heads of supporters, including several women, with iron bars and bamboo staves, until they lost consciousness.
The security forces eventually arrived on the scene and gunshots were also heard at that time. It is alleged the mob were members and supporters of a rival political party, the Union Solidarity Development Association, an organisation established and supported by the military rulers.
Some people managed to escape, but Aung San Suu Kyi, U Tin Oo, and many of their supporters who fled the scene were later detained. Scores of other NLD members were also arrested during or after the event. NLD offices around the country - including the headquarters in Rangoon - were shut down.
During a press conference on May 31, a government spokesman accused Aung San Suu Kyi, U Tin Oo, and other NLD members of having incited unrest during the NLD tour of upper Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi is being held in "protective custody" at an unspecified location. U Tin Oo is also detained at an unnamed location in upper Burma.
Eight other NLD leaders, all of them elderly, are being held under de facto house arrest.
Amnesty International believes all ten NLD leaders were arrested solely for the peaceful expression of their non-violent political views.
On June 10, during a visit to Burma, Ambassador Razali Ismail, the United Nations Secretary General’s special envoy to Burma, visited Aung San Suu Kyi at an unnamed location in Rangoon, where she is being held in solitary confinement. During the last week of June, a delegation of the International Committee for the Red Cross travelled to upper Burma, where they visited U Tin Oo, who was reported to be in good health.
THE ICRC was also given access to at least 30 others arrested on and after May 30. Amnesty International is concerned that in the wake of the attack, the authorities have continued to arrest and interrogate NLD supporters, some as recently as mid-July.
Meanwhile, Amnesty members are involved in preparing a giant petition protesting at the treatment of the democratically elected members of the NLD to be presented to the authorities in Burma.
The petition calls for the immediate release of all those imprisoned for their peaceful political activities. Amongst the signatories are Sir Sean Connery and Ariel Dorfman.
The situation of U Win Tin is also causing concern. Comedian Boothby Graffoe has persuaded many of his friends to make a special video in support of the frail prisoner and you can watch the video and sign up to the online petition at his site, www.uwintin.org.
Boothby, and fellow comedians Bill Bailey, Ed Byrne, Dara O’Briain, Nina Conti, Daniel Kitson and Adam Hills will be appearing at the Amnesty International Stand up for Freedom benefit night tomorrow at midnight in support of the campaign to release U Win Tin. The fight for democracy needs him.
Rosemary Burnett is Amnesty International’s programme director for Scotland.
Stand Up For Freedom is at the Assembly Rooms at midnight, Sunday August 17. Call 0131-226 2428