A United Nations human rights envoy has visited a notorious Burmese prison for political detainees.
The envoy also visited a Buddhist monastery in an investigation into how many people were killed or detained in a government crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN's independent rights investigator for Burma, returned to the country yesterday after a four-year ban. He has said he is determined to gain access to the prisons and other sites to assess allegations of abuse by the ruling military junta.
Reporters saw Mr Pinheiro leave Rangoon's Insein prison, where he spent at least two hours. The jail has held political prisoners, with many former inmates describing torture, abysmal conditions and long stretches in solitary confinement.
Mr Pinheiro has a history of prickly relations with Burma's ruling generals. He cut short a visit in March 2003 after finding a listening device in a prison room where he was interviewing political detainees.
Later that year, he accused the junta of making "absurd" excuses to keep political opponents in prison. He has been barred from the country since November 2003.