BANGKOK, May 21, 2004—One of the leaders of the 1999 pro-democracy student movement in Laos died nearly three years ago in detention following prolonged heat exposure and near-starvation by the authorities in a prison close to the capital Vientiane, Radio Free Asia has learned.

Khamphouvieng Sisa-at died more than two years ago, “around September 2001” in the notorious Samkhe prison after prolonged exposure to the sun in the prison courtyard and malnutrition. A former Lao Hmong political prisoner who had fled to Thailand after completing an eight-year prison sentence, Ly Vong, witnessed Khamphouvieng’s arrival at the prison.

"When he arrived at the prison, he was too weak to work and when a prisoner doesn't work, he doesn't get food," Ly told RFA’s Lao service. "He only received a small portion of sticky rice and a bowl of vegetable soup. Khamphouvieng died because he wasn't cared for or fed properly. Before his death, the prison authorities put him outside in the direct sun for a long period of time."

Ly’s account was confirmed by another source who cited eyewitness accounts from other former Lao Hmong political prisoners at the jail who also fled to Thailand this year their release from Samkhe prison.

Khamphouvieng was one of five key leaders of the 1999 student democracy movement—including Thongpaseuth Keuakoun, Seng-Aloun Phengphanh, Bouavanh Chanmanivong and Keochay—who helped organize a peaceful but abortive demonstration on Oct. 26, 1999 in Vientiane.

The Samkhe prison has been criticized by human rights groups, including Amnesty International, for its treatment of political prisoners.

The protesters were preparing to call for democratic reforms, a crackdown on corruption, and more social justice for the Lao people. All five leaders were arrested, with dozens of others, and little has been heard of them since.

The international community, including Amnesty International, the United States Congress and the European Parliament, have repeatedly pressed the Lao government for news of the detained student activists, who became a symbol of the democracy movement in the exiled Lao population.

After years of denials from Lao authorities over the arrests of the five student democracy leaders, the official Lao news agency KPL published a letter on March 28, 2003 from Lao Prime Minister Boungang Vorachith in which he repeated the official version of events, but made no mention of Khamphouvieng.

Hundreds of students, teachers, cadres, and ordinary people were preparing to take to the streets of Vientiane on October 26, 1999 in peaceful demonstrations calling for democratic reform and greater social justice when they were quickly suppressed by the authorities. While the five leaders were arrested immediately, others managed to flee, crossing the Mekong and finding refuge in Thailand and then in the United States.