NEWS - Myanmar Jails Foreigner for

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Myanmar Jails Foreigner for Illegal Entry

         Reuters
         15-MAY-98

         YANGON, May 15 (Reuters) - A foreigner accused by the Myanmar
media of
         being a mercenary working for dissident groups was sentenced to
five years
         in jail on Friday and fined for entering the country illegally. 

         James Rupert Russell Mawdsley, 24, who holds British and
Australian
         passports, showed no emotion and remained calm as the district
judge U
         Than Htwe delivered his judgement. 

         ``If he does not want to pay the fine, he will be sentenced to
an additional
         one year and three months in jail,'' the judge said. 

         The fine imposed was 50,000 kyats ($8,300). Mawdsley can appeal
the
         sentence within 90 days under prevailing laws, but it was not
immediately
         known if he would do so. 

         Also present at the court were British and Australian embassy
officials with
         whom Mawdsley was allowed to speak after the sentencing. He was
later
         taken back to prison. 

         Mawdsley, entered Myanmar from Mae Sot in western Thailand
through an
         illegal jungle route and was arrested in Mawlamyine on April
30. 

         He had been arrested by the Myanmar military authorities last
September for
         chaining himself to a fence in central Yangon and shouting
anti-government
         slogans. He was subsequently deported. 

         State controlled media have accused him of being a foreign
mercenary
         working for dissident groups opposed to the ruling junta.