WASHINGTON, July 4 (UPI) -- The deputy chief of mission at the Myanmar Embassy in Washington, D.C., says he has requested U.S. authorities grant him political asylum.
In defecting to the United States, Kyaw Win told the Voice of America he wrote a letter Monday to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying he might be prosecuted in his country upon return for his efforts to improve bilateral relations and work for democratic reforms in Myanmar, formerly called Burma.
The military-ruled and isolated South Asian country held elections last November but they were widely criticized around the world as a sham by the regime's leaders to keep themselves in power. The vast majority of those declared winners in the election were backed by the junta.
Kyaw Win told VOA he had hoped the military would ease its grip on the country, but instead, military officials were consolidating their power and seeking to stamp out the voices of those seeking democracy.
He said he urged Clinton to use the political will of the U.S. to investigate human rights violations in Myanmar and impose targeted financial sanctions against the government and its cronies.
Kyaw Win has worked for Myanmar's Foreign Ministry for 31 years. His wife and three grown children also are in the United States, the report said.
