Freed activists urge support for My

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Freed activists urge support
                for Myanmar pro-democracy
                              movement 

                              By GRANT PECK 
                             The Associated Press
                           08/16/98 1:25 AM Eastern

              BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Eighteen foreigners expelled
              from Myanmar on Saturday for handing out pro-democracy
              leaflets urged support for the country's human rights
              movement, while opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
              continued her own standoff with the nation's military regime.

              "We're really, really happy to be free and not be in Burma
              anymore," Sapna Chattpar, a 21-year-old student from
              American University in Washington, said in Bangkok.
              Myanmar also is known as Burma. 

              "But the people of Burma who have done the exact same
              thing -- to fight for human rights and democracy -- they are
              suffering today," she added. 

              Relatives, friends and supporters mobbed and hugged
              Chattpar and the 17 others at Bangkok's airport, draping
              them with garlands of flowers. 

              In a one-day trial Friday, a judge convicted the six
              Americans, three Indonesians, three Malaysians, three Thais,
              two Filipinos and an Australian of violating an Emergency
              Provisions Act dating from 1950. They were sentenced to
              five years of hard labor, but within minutes officials
              announced the sentences were suspended and they would be
              deported. 

              The Americans were Chattpar; Nisha Marie Anand, 21, of
              Atlanta; Joel Edward Greer, 34, of New York; Anjanette
              Hamilton, 20, of Portsmouth, N.H.; Tyler Gianini, 28, of
              Washington; and Michele Keegan, 19, of Hamilton
              Township, N.J. 

              At least four of them -- Keegan, Hamilton, Anand and
              Chattpar -- were expected to return to the United States early
              Monday. 

              Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, meanwhile,
              remained parked at a roadblock 19 miles west of Yangon for
              a fourth day. Authorities do not want her to meet supporters
              of her party outside Yangon. 

              Myanmar's military regime has accused her and the foreign
              activists of trying to destabilize the state. 

              Gen. Maung Aye, the army commander and one of the top
              four generals in Myanmar's ruling State Peace and
              Development Council, said in a speech reported by official
              newspapers Saturday that "traitors" were working with
              foreign powers. 

              No names were mentioned, but Maung Aye clearly was
              referring to Suu Kyi's standoff and to the activists detained
              for almost a week for distributing leaflets urging Myanmar's
              people to remember a failed 1988 uprising against military
              rule. 

              For foreign consumption, the government took a kinder and
              gentler line. Its English-language press releases painted the
              foreign activists as misled young people and indicated
              tolerance for Suu Kyi's action. 

              A statement said the government was making "every effort"
              to ensure the safety and comfort of Suu Kyi and her
              companions. The government said it had provided them with
              soft drinks as well as a cassette player and tapes of religious
              sermons and music by artists including Madonna and
              Michael Jackson. 

              There was no indication that Suu Kyi, 53, had accepted any
              of the gifts. In previous roadside confrontations, she has
              refused to take anything from -- or even speak to -- security
              forces blocking her way. 

              Two weeks ago, a six-day standoff at the same roadblock
              ended when Suu Kyi was forcibly driven back to Yangon. 

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