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Jailed British activist won't appea
- Subject: Jailed British activist won't appea
- From: darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 11:27:00
Jailed British activist won't appeal 17-year sentence in Myanmar
AP Bangkok 20 October 1999. Jailed British activist James Mawdsley will
not appeal
the 17-year sentence he received for distributing pro-democracy pamphlets
in Myanmar,
a British embassy official said Wednesday.
''He's decided not to appeal his sentence and his parents have been
informed,'' an
embassy spokesperson told The Associated Press on customary condition of
anonymity.
''It's up to him.''
Mawdsley, 26, of Lancashire, who also holds an Australian passport, was
reported in
good health and spirits. Embassy personnel are able to visit him once a
month, although
his parents have yet to be granted access.
Mawdsley was sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment for entering Myanmar, also
known
as Burma, illegally and carrying antigovernment literature in the run-up to
fizzled dissident
protests on Sept. 9.
He had been deported twice before and was sentenced to five years in prison
last year.
On the second occasion, he spent 99 days in solitary confinement before he
was released
on condition that he not enter Myanmar again. Mawdsley later said he had
been tortured
during his interrogation.
Run by the military for 37 years, Myanmar strictly prohibits demonstrations
of political
dissent by citizens and foreigners. According to Amnesty International
there are more
than 1,200 political prisoners in the country.
Another jailed Briton, Rachel Goldwyn, 28, who received a seven-year
sentence two
weeks after Mawdsley for singing pro-democracy songs in downtown Yangon,
has filed
an appeal, the embassy spokesperson said.
Goldwyn's parents, from Barnes in southwest London, have been in Myanmar
for about
a month and are able to visit her every two days at Insein Prison in the
Myanmar capital,
where she is in solitary confinement.
The spokesperson said it was not clear how long the appeals process would
take.
Goldwyn was in good health and had regular access to a doctor, the
spokesperson said.
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