Myanmar Imprisons 80-Year-Old Man

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Myanmar Imprisons 80-Year-Old Man

 .c The Associated Press 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - An 80-year-old political activist was sentenced to a
seven-year prison term at hard labor, a student rebel group opposed to
Myanmar's military government reported today. 

Thakhin Ohn Myint, an adviser to the National League for Democracy led by
Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, was punished for helping write a
history of Myanmar's student movement, the rebel group said. 

The All Burma Students Democratic Front, an organization of students who went
into exile after anti-government protests were suppressed in 1988, said
Thakhin Ohn Myint was convicted in April of violating a publications law. 

Over the past week, the student group has reported punishments handed down by
the government in April against several opponents, among them six people who
were sentenced to death. The government says most were guilty of terrorism or
anti-government activities. 

The rebel group described Thakin Ohn Myint as a figure in the country's war
for independence from Britain and a close colleague of Suu Kyi's father,
assassinated national hero Gen. Aung San. 

He has been arrested several times over the past 40 years and served three
years in prison between 1989 and 1992 for supporting the pro-democracy
movement, the student group said. 

The military has ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, since 1962 and tolerates
virtually no political dissent. Suu Kyi has been under house arrest or close
confinement for most of the past nine years.