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Reuters-Myanmar to deport American



Myanmar to deport American activists 
11:49 a.m. Aug 14, 1998 Eastern 

By Aung Hla Tun 

YANGON, Myanmar (Reuters) - A Myanmar court made a dramatic turnaround
Friday when it freed 18 foreign activists, including six Americans, shortly
after sentencing them to five years in jail with hard labor. 

Witnesses said the court, which had minutes earlier imposed the sentence on
the activists for distributing pro-democracy leaflets in Yangon, received a
letter from Myanmar's Ministry of Home Affairs instructing it to release
the prisoners. 

``The release was to promote good relations between Myanmar and the
countries involved in the case,'' one witness said. 

``The sentences are suspended,'' he quoted a court statement as saying. 

The statement said the suspension was conditional on the activists not
offending again. If they did so, they would receive a full sentence for all
offenses. The activists' respective embassies were instructed to deport
them Sunday. 

The arrests had sparked strong international condemnation and the United
States, among others, urged their release. 

Relatives reacted with joy to news that all would soon be free. 

Kelly Keegan of Hamilton Township, New Jersey, mother of 19-year-old
detainee Michelle Keegan, told a U.S. radio station: ``That is great and
wonderful news, that is what we expected and that's what will happen,
Michelle and all 17 others will be home tomorrow.'' 

In Canberra, the Australian Foreign Ministry said it expected the 18 to fly
to the Thai capital Bangkok Saturday morning. 

The 18 activists -- six Americans, three Thais, three Malaysians, three
Indonesians, two Filipinos and an Australian -- had pleaded guilty to the
charges against them, which were made under Myanmar's sweeping 1950
Emergency Act. 

The activists had handed out thousands of palm-sized red leaflets calling
on the people of Myanmar to remember an uprising against the military 10
years ago. 

Opposition supporters say thousands of people were killed in the crackdown
that followed the uprising Aug. 8, 1988. The government says the death toll
was only a few dozen. 

The court case in Yangon came against a background of another protest by
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been stopped on a road outside
Yangon by the military and prevented from visiting supporters in western
Myanmar. 

The government, criticized internationally over its treatment of Suu Kyi,
said Friday that it had provided a beach umbrella, garden chairs and other
items including magazines to ensure her comfort. 

Suu Kyi, a senior member of her National League for Democracy (NLD) and two
drivers were stopped by police in their mini-van Wednesday. 

The trip is a repeat of one last month that led to a six-day standoff in
her car and was ended forcibly on July 29. 

Suu Kyi, her party and foreign sympathizers, who include the U.S.
government, are trying to persuade the Myanmar military to step down from
power and introduce democracy. 

Suu Kyi is the daughter of Myanmar national hero Aung San, who led the
independence movement in the 1940s. 

The military says ethnically diverse Myanmar is not yet ready for
democratic politics. 

But the NLD points to a general election held in May 1990 which it won
convincingly as evidence of its support. The military government has
ignored that result.