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bangkok Post(3/9/99)



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<font size=7><b>Security stepped up after renegades raid Tak 
village<br>
</font><font size=5><i>Three checkpoints with Burma closed<br>
<br>
</font></i><font size=3>Supamart Kasem <br>
</font><font size=5>S</font></b><font size=3>ecurity has been stepped up
with three border crossings closed since Sunday after an incursion by the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.<br>
The Third Army chief said security was being heightened in Mae Sot
district because there had been no progress in talks with Rangoon over
the renegades' Aug 28 attack on Ban Rai Don Chai in Tak. Lt-Gen Sommai
Vichavorn, who inspected the village yesterday, said: &quot;The army
wants all temporary passes closed. People who want to cross the border
for business or family reasons can use permanent checkpoints.&quot;The
three crossings would not be reopened until the situation returns to
normal, said Lt-Gen Sommai.<br>
On Saturday, guerrillas of the pro-Rangoon renegade militia raided Ban
Rai Don Chai and later fired on it for about one hour, opening fire from
Mae Taw Talay in Burma.<br>
However, Thai security forces did not retaliate because Mae Taw Talay has
a sizeable population which includes more than 600 Thais.<br>
In another development, a border official said more than 300 Karen
refugees had disappeared from Huay Kalok camp in Mae Sot apparently to
avoid being moved to a new shelter at Ban Um Piam Mai along the Mae
Sot-Umphang Highway.<br>
An investigation showed that some 100 of these Karen had crossed the
border into Burma and had joined a renegade unit led by Lt-Col Maung Chit
Tu while the others were hiding out in villages elsewhere along the
border.<br>
Lt-Gen Sommai said all the runaway refugees were now considered as
illegal immigrants and would be charged with illegal entry before being
deported.<br>
----------------------------------------------------<br>
</font><font size=5>Briton imprisoned for 12 years <br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5><i>Democracy activist
distributed leaflets <br>
</font></i><font size=3>foreign activist arrested in Burma Athis week
with pro-dernocracy leaflets has been sentenced to 12 years in jail, the
British embassy in Rangoon said yesterday. <br>
James Mawdsley, 26, a Briton who also has an Australian passport, was
arrested in Tachilek on Tuesday with anti-governrnent leaflets. <br>
Last year, he was sentenced to five years'jail in Burma for illegal entry
into the country but was freed from solitary confinement in Rangoon's
notorious Insein jail after only 99 days. <br>
The embassy said Burma's foreign ministry had said in a written statement
that Mr Mawdsley had been sentenced by a court in Tachilek the same day
of his arrest. <br>
&quot;We are unhappy with the way the </font><font size=2>case was
handled and that we did not have access to Mr Mawdsley before the trial
took place. We are making this clear to the Burmese government,&quot; the
embassy said in a statement. <br>
Mr Mawdsley
</font><font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=1>received five years
under the Imrnigration Act and seven under a law governing printing and
publications&nbsp;&nbsp; and&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; is being&nbsp;&nbsp;
held&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; in prison in the town&nbsp; of Kengtung near
Tachilek. <br>
</font><font size=2>There was no immediate comment from the Rangoon
government.<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Mr Mawdsley had been
arrested for protesting against military rule in 'Burma twice before, in
1997 and 1998, and the official hews agency said on Tuesday he faced
&quot;severe action&quot; this time. Rangoon said he was freed from
Inscin jail last year after pleas from his parents and the British and
Australian embassies. <br>
The embassies had been seeking access to Mr Mawdsley this time but
without success, the British official said. <br>
Mr Mawdsley has published letters on the Internet making it clear he
expected arrest and was willing to face the consequences, including
torture. <br>
Friends said he was motivated to take risks for the Burmese democracy
movement after a military offensive on a dissidents'camp where he was
working on the Thai-Burma border in 1997. <br>
He said in one of the letters that he wanted a copy of the Bible sent to
him in detention. <br>
 . The letters demanded the junta release all political prisoners, reopen
universities that had been closed for most of the past decade and start a
dialogue with opponents.&nbsp; <br>
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