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BBC-Second Briton arrested in Burma



Reply-To: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Tuesday, September 7, 1999 Published at 21:57 GMT 22:57 UK
UK

Second Briton arrested in Burma

Ms Goldwyn was arrested in a Rangoon market

A British woman has been arrested in Burma for singing a revolutionary song
at a pro-democracy demonstration.
Rachel Goldwyn, 28, from Barnes, south-west London, sang the song We Will
Never Forget and demanded civil rights for the country in front of a crowd
of 300 students before her arrest.

James Mawdsley's family fear that he is being tortured in jail
A Foreign Office spokesman said that attempts were being made to get access
to Ms Goldwyn, and to find out why she was arrested and whether she has
legal representation.

Her arrest comes a week after another pro-democracy campaigner James
Mawdsley, 26, was sentenced to 17 years in jail after being convicted of
entering Burma illegally carrying anti-government literature.

A statement from the Democratic Burmese Students' Organisation (UK), for
which Ms Goldwyn is a researcher, said the arrest took place in a busy
Rangoon market.

"Shackled at the ankles, she sang a revolution song and shouted
pro-democracy slogans for 15 minutes before the military police dragged her
into a van and drove off through the shouting crowds," it said.

The statement added that a group of students who sang the song in 1995 in
Rangoon received 20-year prison sentences.

Family fear

Ms Goldwyn's mother, Dr Charmian Goldwyn, who is a GP, said that she and her
TV producer husband Ed, who live in Barnes, were desperately worried for
Rachel, the youngest of their three daughters.

Mr Mawdsley had been arrested on the Burma-Thailand border
Ms Goldwyn, who attended Goldolphin School in Hammersmith, west London, was
an economics graduate from the London School of Economics and had become
interested in the Burmese pro-democracy movement while working in a refugee
camp in Thailand two years ago.

Her mother said Rachel had told her that she was going to Germany.

"We did not hear until about three hours ago that she had been arrested in
Burma. It was a big shock and I was desperate when I first heard.

"I am very proud of her, but I also desperately wish she hadn't done this.
Really to do this sort of thing, to draw attention to the terrible things
that are going on in Burma, is very brave."

Torture concerns

The news of her detention came as David Mawdsley, father of James Mawdsley,
said he feared his son was being tortured by his captors.

On Tuesday the UK Foreign Office said that a consul based in Rangoon had not
been allowed to see him in jail in the remote town of Kengtung.

The FCO spokesman said it is "most concerned" about the situation.

David Mawdlsey said: "My interpretation of this is that he is being tortured
and they are refusing to let diplomats see him simply because they don't
want the western world to have a view of what they are doing to him right
now."

Activism growing

James Mawdlsey had already been deported from Burma twice for taking part in
pro-democracy protests, and spent 99 days in solitary confinement in a
Burmese jail last year.

Mr Mawdsley said his son had been tortured during his previous spell in
prison.

Pro-democracy activism against the military regime in Burma is growing ahead
of Thursday's date of 09-09-99, which is widely seen as an auspicious date
in the south-east Asian country.

Activists say the military has in turn begun a "massive" pre-emptive
crackdown from the authorities, with nearly 500 arrests countrywide.