Detained Shan leader Khun Tun Oo will be giving alms on Sunday, 16 April, according to a source close to his family in Rangoon.

Khun Tun Oo

The day coincides with wannao (Akyat Nay in Burmese), which is according to tradition the day of transition from the old year to the New Year.

Khun Tun Oo, 64, who is being held in Kachin State's Putao, will be offering vermicelli to the local monks. "We invite all those who love him and freedom to rejoice in his merit-making and pray for the speedy freedom of all the political prisoners", he said.

Khun Tun Oo, leader of Burma's second biggest winning party Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), and 8 others were arrested on 8-9 February 2005 and sentenced to unprecedented long term imprisonment, from 75-106 years. One of them, Math Myint Than, died on 2 May 2006 at Sandoway prison, Arakan State.