NEWS - Briton Activist Arrested in

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Subject: NEWS - Briton Activist Arrested in Myanmar

Briton Activist Arrested in Myanmar

 .c The Associated Press

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - A young British activist who is opposed to the
military regime in Myanmar was arrested Tuesday for illegally entering
the country.

Myanmar state television reported that James Mawdsley, who has already
been twice deported for anti-government protests, had been arrested at a
market in the northeastern city of Tachilek.

Entry requirements at Tachilek, a trading center on the border with
Thailand, are less stringent than other entry points into Myanmar, also
called Burma.

Mawdsley, 26, who lives in Lancashire, England, and also holds
Australian citizenship, was previously arrested in April 1998 and
September 1997.

He served almost three months of a five-year jail sentence in Yangon's
infamous Insein Prison for his 1998 infraction before being freed and
expelled on humanitarian grounds after appeals from his parents.

The television report described him as a ``mercenary terrorist'' and
said this time ``severe action'' would be taken against him.

In previous interviews, Mawdsley has indicated he believes in nonviolent
resistance.

``It's only through persistence that these sorts of actions are going to
have an effect,'' he told Associated Press Television News earlier this
month. ``I need to keep making the point to (the Myanmar government)
because they continue to torture my brothers, rape my sisters, and while
that goes on I am not going to be intimidated and remain in England.''

The military government of Myanmar is condemned by many human rights
organizations and Western governments for its record of human rights
abuses.

Mawdsley also told APTN that he accepted that he would probably end up
in a Myanmar prison.

``It takes some time to adjust to it - it's absolute hell, inhuman
conditions,'' he said. ``But I'm quite sure I'll get over that ...
because you know you are not bowing down to this intimidation, but
you're fighting for something you believe in.''

AP-NY-08-31-99 1326EDT