[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Shock As British Woman Is Jailed In

Subject: Shock As British Woman Is Jailed In Burma 

<html>
<font size=4><b>Shock As British Woman Is Jailed In Burma <br>
</font><font size=2>Posted on 9/17/99, 09:09 AM CST.
</font><font size=2 color="#0000FF"><u>Email this story to a
friend</font></u><font size=2 color="#000000">.<br>
</b>Source:
</font><font size=2 color="#0000FF"><b><u>Yahoo</font></b></u><font size=2 color="#000000">.<br>
Posted by: <b>ShweInc NEWs<br>
</font></b><font size=3>A seven-year jail sentence imposed by a Burmese
court on a British woman for singing a pro-democracy song has been
greeted with shock and disbelief by her family. <br>
<br>
Rachel Goldwyn, 28, from Barnes, south west London, was given seven years
with labour, dashing all hopes that she would be merely expelled from the
country for her alleged crime. <br>
<br>
A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed that she had been found guilty of
&quot;endangering peace, security and stability&quot; by a court at
Insein prison, in Rangoon, and added: &quot;We are shocked by the
severity of the sentence.&quot; <br>
<br>
He continued: &quot;The British Consul, Frank Marshall, attended the
hearing as did her lawyer. We understand that Rachel will appeal, but
that could take several months.&quot; <br>
<br>
The British Ambassador in Rangoon is set to discuss the case with the
Burmese authorities, he confirmed. <br>
<br>
Ms Goldwyn was arrested in Rangoon the Burmese capital, after she chained
herself to a lamp post and sang a pro-democracy song on September 7. She
was tried under the Emergency Provisions Act, used by the repressive
Burmese military regime to suppress dissent. <br>
<br>
The dedicated human rights campaigner looked saddened, but otherwise had
no reaction when the Rangoon court announced the verdict and sentence.
<br>
<br>
Asked by the judge if she was guilty of actions likely to cause public
unrest - the charge against her - Ms Goldwyn admitted the facts of her
case but denied that her motive was to disrupt stability. <br>
<br>
Her mother, Charmian Goldwyn, who described her daughter as &quot;caring
and compassionate&quot;, said: &quot;We are absolutely devastated. We
really didn't expect it. We expected a suspended sentence. It is terrible
trying to ring the family up. Everybody cries when I tell them.&quot;
<br>
<br>
Mrs Goldwyn, a GP, and her husband, Ed, a TV producer, had thought their
youngest daughter was on holiday in Germany and had been unaware of her
protest plans until they were informed of her arrest. <br>
<br>
</font>
<BR>
</html>