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NCGUB: PM CALLS FOR RELEASE OF DEMO



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For Immediate Release: August 10, 1998

NCGUB: PM CALLS FOR RELEASE OF DEMONSTRATORS
Tells junta they 'are only dangerous to you if you harm or hold them.'

Begin text:

The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma today deplored the
arrests of eighteen members of a "multinational peace-making team" by the
military junta in Rangoon and called on the regime to ensure their safe and
speedy release.  Prime Minister Sein Win, speaking from Washington, said
that "I am touched by their concern for my people and moved by their
courage, but I also know what it is to fear for the safety loved ones who
are at the mercy of the generals.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the
families of the regime's newest prisoners."  In a message to the junta, Dr.
Sein Win added, "these young people are only dangerous to you if you harm or
hold them.  Let them go."

The text of the flier they were distributing read:

We are your friends from around the world. We have not forgotten you. We
support your hopes for human rights and democracy. 8-8-88 -- Don't forget --
Don't give up.

A junta spokesman said that eighteen will be tried on criminal charges and
that "Action will be taken against them according to the law. They will be
charged and tried."

For more information, contact the NCGUB Press Office
in Washington +1 (202) 393 7343
in Bangkok +66 (2) 591 5840,
in Australia +61 (2) 6297-7734
	or, ncgub@xxxxxxxxxxx
				###

BACKGROUNDER ON ARRESTS, CRISIS IN BURMA:

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ON THOSE ARRESTED:  The peace-making team of
eighteen included lawyers, academics, business people and students.  Of the
eighteen, six are US nationals, three are Thais, three are Malaysians, one
is Australian, two are Filipinos and three are Indonesians.

Michele Keegan (USA): at nineteen, Ms. Keegan is the youngest of those
arrested.  She is to be a sophomore at American University this fall where
she is majoring in Psychology.  Michele grew up in New Jersey and has helped
to raise money to purchase health and educational supplies for refugees
living along the Thai-Burma border.

Nisha Anand (USA): is twenty-one years old and is an honors graduate from
American University with a degree in International Relations which she
received this spring.  She received a full scholarship from the masters
program in Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University which will
begin in the fall.

Sapna Chhatpar (USA): is twenty years old and will be a junior at American
University this fall, majoring in International Studies.  She is from
Maryland and has helped to raise money to purchase health and educational
supplies for refugees living along the Thai-Burma border.

Anjanette Hamilton (USA): is twenty years old and will be a sophomore at
American  University this fall, majoring in anthropology.  She is from
Connecticut and became interested in Burma while living for a year as an
exchange student in India.

Tyler Gianini (USA): Tyler is twenty-eight years old and is a lawyer with an
environmental organization with offices in Washington.  Tyler grew up in the
Washington area and graduated from the University of Virginia Law School in
1995 and is member of the Virginia bar.

Joel Greer (USA): is a thirty-four year old law student at Yale Law School
in Connecticut.

Alison Vickary (Australia): is a thirty-five year old economics at Macquarie
University.  She lives in Marrickville, Australia.

Jaran Ditapichai (Thailand): is a fifty two year old lecturer at a
university in Thailand.  He lives in Bangkok.

Suwat Uppahad (Thailand): is thirty-seven years old and he is a member of an
agricultural cooperative in Thailand.

Chanakan Phundaemvong (Thailand): is twenty-two years old and she is a
university student.

Ellene Sana (Philippines): is thirty six years old and she works with a
non-profit organization in the Philippines.

Ponciano Resuena (Philippines): is thirty-three years old and he works for a
non-profit organization in the Philippines.

See Chee How (Malaysia): is thirty-four years old and he is a businessman in
Malaysia.

Jonson Chong (Malaysia): is twenty-seven years old and he works with a
non-profit organization in Malaysia.

Ju Lynn Ong (Malaysia): is twenty-seven years old and she is a university
student in Malaysia.

Cass Evert (Indonesia): is twenty-one years old and he is a university
student

Haikal (Indonesia): is twenty-one years old and he is a university student.

Fadjri (Indonesia): is thirty-seven years old and he is a journalist in
Indonesia.

RECENT SIMILAR ARRESTS: James Mawdsley, a 25-year old British-Australian
student was released last week after serving three months of a five year
sentence for entering Burma illegally.  Mawsdley had distributed leaflets
similar to the ones carried by the peace-making team.  Mawdsley was held in
solitary confinement in Rangoon's notorious Insein1 Prison for three months,
"crushing cockroaches and reading a hard-back copy of the New English
Bible."2  The Independent, a London newspaper describes Insein Prison as:

"overcrowded, infested, and brutal, [a] sprawling collection of brick and
concrete buildings [that] houses prisoners from across Burma in small dirty
cells. Most are political prisoners, the overwhelming majority Burmese
nationals, serving up to 25 years for" subversive acts" such as speaking to
United Nations researchers.

BURMA'S LAWS:  A report by Amnesty International on Burma's political
prisoners described Burma's legal system, in the words of one of the junta
members, as "no law at all."  The junta has claimed the peace making team
violated the Emergency Provisions Act of 1950, the Printing and Publications
Act of 1962 and a law prohibiting "statements conducive to public mischief."
In May 1998, Burma sentenced a number of persons to seven year sentences
under the Printers and Publications Act, including an eighty-year old man
who had been a prominent figure in Burma's independence movement.
Dissidents charged with violations of the Emergency Provisions Act have
recently drawn five-year prison terms.  Burma's has the world's most
draconian Internet laws, including one which penalizes possession of an
unauthorized modem or fax machine with seven to fifteen years in prison.  In
1996, Leo Nichols, an Anglo-Burman who was honorary consul in Rangoon for
several European countries died after serving six weeks of a three year
prison term received for the unauthorized possession of a fax machine.  Mr.
Nichols is believed to have been denied medical treatment despite known
serious medical conditions.

NLD LEADER UNDER VIRTUAL HOUSE ARREST:   National League for Democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been placed under virtual house arrest with
extra riot police and security checks around her home.  The NLD statement
noted that "This measure ... signifies increased restriction of (NLD leader)
Aung San Suu Kyi and is tantamount to putting her under house arrest...If
this continues, the NLD has no other recourse but to take legal action.


Footnotes:

1 Insein is pronounced "insane."

2 Andrew Buncombe , Season of hell in Burma junta's jail, THE INDEPENDENT
(London),August 7, 1998





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