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Remember: Myanmar suspends jail sen



Subject: Remember: Myanmar suspends jail sentences and deports foreign

activists
To: Burma Net News <burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx>
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Myanmar suspends jail sentences and deports foreign activists 

YANGON, Aug 14 (AFP) - Eighteen foreign activists were sentenced to 
five years hard labour by a court in Myanmar Friday for attempting to 
incite unrest but the penalties were immediately suspended and they 
were ordered to be deported, diplomats said. 

The activists, who were detained last Sunday after they handed out 
leaflets here promoting human rights and democracy, were to stay at a 
police guest house overnight before flying to Bangkok on Saturday, they 
added. 

The move came as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi spent a second 
night in her car on a roadside near Yangon after being blocked from 
visiting provincial supporters. 

The presiding judge told the activists they would have 90 days to 
appeal the sentence and one of them immediately said he would appeal, 
before the home affairs ministry stepped in and ordered the suspension, 
witnesses said. 

However, suspension on these sentences was conditional on the activists 
pledging not to violate Myanmar law again, "refraining from acts 
detrimental to the people of Myanmar" and having to serve their 
sentence at the notorious Insein prison, an official said. 

The suspenson was ordered in "view of bilateral relations between 
Myanmar and the relevant countries," the home ministry said. 

The activists were arrested while handing out pamphlets here urging 
people to remember the 10th anniversary of a bloody military crackdown 
on pro-democracy demonstrators on August 8, 1988. 

The pamphlets also promoted human rights and democracy. 

The detainees were six US nationals, three Thais, three Malaysians, 
three Indonesians, two Filipinos and one Australian. Ten were male and 
eight female. 

All the activists were treated well during their detention, diplomats 
said. 

The foreigners were charged under the country's emergency act with 
inciting public unrest, for which the maximum penalty is 10 years 
imprisonment. 

Myanmar's junta earlier accused the 18 foreigners of inciting unrest 
and dismissed mounting pressure from the international community to 
release them. 

The White House welcomed the activists' release but warned their 
detentions were but one example of Yangon's human rights abuses. 

"While we are pleased that these American citizens will be returning to 
the United States, we think this ought to serve as a reminder that 
there is an absence of protection of basic human rights in Burma," said 
spokesman Michael McCurry, using the colonial name for Myanmar. 

The incident was "a failure of the Burmese government to allow freedom 
of expression which underscores all the points that we have made 
privately and publicly," he added. 

============= Here ==================

Myanmar authorities earlier this month freed a British-Australian 
national who was originally sentenced to five years in jail for illegal 
entry and "terrorist" activities. 

James Mawdsley, 25, was pardoned by the ruling junta after the 
government received a letter from his parents. 

He had served just over three months of his sentence which was handed 
down by the court at Insein in May for "collaborating with armed 
terrorist groups to disrupt stability." 

============= Up to Here ============

Aung San Suu Kyi meanwhile remained in her car blocked from travelling 
on a rural highway for a second day in the fourth such standoff with 
the junta in little over a month. 

"It seems she is still there and they have plenty of supplies. It is 
basically the same situation as before," a western embassy official 
said. 

He was referring to a six-day roadside standoff which ended when the 
junta forcibly drove her home on July 29 after she tried to meet 
supporters outside Yangon. 

She is now in the same spot on a small bridge some 25 kilometres (15 
miles) outside Yangon, diplomats said, but this time she is in a 
mini-van rather than a sedan and has brought extra supplies. 

A junta spokesman said an ambulance was at the site and security 
personnel had been deployed to protect her. 

Washington and Britain on Thursday warned the junta to ensure she was 
looked after and called for the two sides to hold talks. 

The US embassy in Yangon has asked for permission for officials to 
travel to the site "to observe the situation and speak with Aung San 
Suu Kyi," said State Department deputy spokesman James Foley. 

Britain's Foreign Office minister Derek Fatchett echoed the call saying 
the travel restrictions imposed on her should be lifted. 

"I deeply regret that the Burmese regime should, instead of opening 
dialogue with the National League for Democracy (NLD) and other 
democratic leaders, yet again have chosen to stop Aung San Suu Kyi 
freely travelling around Burma," Fatchett said in a statement. 

The NLD won 1990 polls by a landslide but the junta has refused to 
relinquish power. The NLD has set the junta an August 21 deadline for 
convening parliament or face unspecified consequences. 

kf/bl/awb 
-- 
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