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(Breaking New)--18 arrests To Be Tr



Foreigners To Be Tried in Myanmar

 .c The Associated Press 

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Eighteen foreigners arrested last week for handing out
pro-democracy leaflets in Myanmar's capital will go on trial Friday morning,
the government said. 

The 18 will be tried at a court in Insein, a northern suburb of Yangon that is
home to a harsh prison where political detainees are usually kept. 

Those arrested include six Americans, three Thais, three Malaysians, three
Indonesians, two Filipinos and an Australian. 

The government has not specified what charges they will face. Most political
detainees are charged under a sweeping law that allows the authorities to hand
out maximum 20-year jail sentences for attempting to incite unrest or disrupt
the peace and stability of the state. 

They were detained Sunday, the day after the 10th anniversary of a nationwide
democracy uprising that was brutally crushed by the military, for handing out
small cards to Myanmar citizens telling them the outside world supported their
struggle for democracy. 

The military, which has ruled Myanmar in various guises since 1962, launched
the 1988 crackdown, in which more than 3,000 demonstrators were gunned down. 

The 18 foreign activists have been held at a military guest house in the
capital. Diplomats who have visited have described them as cheerful and well-
fed and have said the activists were being treated humanely. 

The military government issued a statement this week, however, saying their
release had been delayed because they were being uncooperative. 

The military is trying to discourage foreign activists from entering Myanmar
and inciting the population to revolt, while at the same time avoiding
repercussions from the governments of countries from which the activists come.

Earlier this year, the military government sentenced a British national, James
Mawdsley, to five years in prison, also for handing out pro-democracy leaflets
in Yangon. He was released after three months. 

Mawdsley had been detained in 1997 for a similar action, but was deported with
just a warning from the government not to return. 

Citizens of Myanmar, also known as Burma, rarely ever receive an attorney to
defend them, democracy activists and human rights groups say. Trials usually
consist of reading out the charges and sentencing the accused -- a process
that often takes less than an hour, they say. 

The foreigners are unlikely to receive that sort of treatment, however.
Mawdsley was represented by a Myanmar lawyer at his trial. 

Insein prison, which sits just beyond the court, is where hundreds of
political prisoners are kept along with violent criminals. Political prisoners
are frequently subjected to torture and kept in solitary confinement or cells
meant for military dogs, human rights groups and former prisoners have said. 

In 1995, the International Red Cross pulled out of Myanmar in protest because
it was not allowed access to political prisoners. 

AP-NY-08-13-98 2337EDT