NLD's Patron Win Tin Meeting Monk Shi Wirathu. By Aye Aye Win Associated Press April 21, 2014 YANGON, MYANMAR — Win Tin, a prominent journalist who became Myanmar's longest-serving political prisoner after challenging military rule by co-founding the National League for Democracy, died Monday, He was 85. He had been hospitalized with respiratory problems since March 12 and died at Yangon General Hospital. A former newspaper editor, Win Tin was a close ai de to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, another founder in 1988 of the pro-democracy party. In 1989, she was put under house arrest and Win Tin was sent to prison for his political activities. His sentence was extended twice for various reasons, the second time for writing a letter to the United Nations. Colleagues and admirers paid tribute to the feisty writer and activist, with Suu Kyi sending a handwritten note for his funeral service which was also posted on her Facebook page in her capacity