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FOCUS-Myanmar jails opposition lead



FOCUS-Myanmar jails opposition leader for 25 years

BANGKOK, April 21 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government has jailed a
prominent woman leader of the opposition National League for Democracy for 25
years, dissidents said on Tuesday. 

San San, in her late 60s, was sentenced under Myanmar's Official Secrets Act
after she was found to have participated in a British Broadcasting Corp
interview critical of the ruling military regime, the exiled All Burma
Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) said in a statement. 

She was formerly deputy-chairman of the Yangon division of the NLD, which is
led by Nobel Peace Laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi, and was a leading member of the
party's women's group. 

A spokesman for the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
confirmed the sentencing of San San, but said it was unrelated to the
interview. 

San San had breached conditions under which she was granted a release in 1992
from a previous 25-year sentence she was serving for treason, he added. 

The spokesman did not say what the conditions were, but said she had ``failed
to abide by the law and behave accordingly.'' 

``Disappointingly, due to fabrications and distribution of false information
domestically and internationally to create instability and unrest in the
country, as well as her participation in groups doing the same, the amnesty
granted has been revoked,'' the SPDC spokesman told Reuters in Yangon. 

In Geneva, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday adopted a European
Union motion on Myanmar which expresses concern at abuses including
extrajudicial executions, torture, and repression of ethnic and religious
minorities. It was adopted without a vote. 

San San, elected to parliament in the 1990 election swept by the NLD but never
recognised by the military regime, was arrested with seven other NLD members
in connection with trips to suburban party offices in October 1997. 

The seven others were sentenced last December to between six and eight years
imprisonment. 

The ABSDF statement said San San had been singled out by the SPDC for refusing
to agree to end her political activities and for her outspoken criticism of
the military regime. 

``The SPDC singled out Daw San San and attempted to force her to end her
political activities. When she refused to comply with the demand she was then
charged under the Officials Secrets Act for doing the interview,'' the
statement said. 

It added that San San has been denied visitors since her sentence was
announced. ^REUTERS@ 

10:41 04-21-98