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News Release Issued by the Internat (r)



* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *

AI INDEX: 16/21/98
10 AUGUST 1998

PUBLIC STATEMENT


Myanmar: 18 arrested -- no freedom of expression


Amnesty International is dismayed to learn of yesterday's arrest of 18
foreign nationals in
Myanmar, for distributing leaflets in Yangon, the capital.  The leaflets
reportedly commemorated
the 10th anniversary of the 8 August 1988 violent suppression of the
pro-democracy movement.

     Amnesty International believes they are detained in violation of the
right to freedom of
expression and calls for their immediate release.

     The Myanmar authorities are reported to have stated that the 10 men
and eight women --
one Australian, two Filipinos, three Indonesians, three Malaysians, three
Thais, and six USA
nationals -- will be charged and tried for attempting to incite unrest.
Officials mentioned two
laws under which they may be tried, the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act and
the 1962 Printers
and Publishers Registration, both frequently used to detain political
prisoners in Myanmar.

     While  attention is focused on the arrest of these 18 men and women,
Amnesty
International urges the international community to call not only for their
immediate release, but
to remember the hundreds of Burmese political prisoners still detained in
Myanmar, some of
them for the last 10 years.
ENDS.../