NEWS - Embassies press to see the J

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Subject: NEWS - Embassies press to see the Jailed Briton in Myanmar

Embassies press to see the Jailed Briton in Myanmar

By David Brunnstrom

  
BANGKOK, Sept 3 (Reuters) - British and Australian diplomats were
pressing for access to a dual national given a long jail term in Myanmar
for pro-democracy activism this week, the Australian ambassador to
Myanmar said on Friday. 

Yangon said on Thursday that a court had jailed James Mawdsley, who
holds dual British-Australian nationality, for 17 years after a third
illegal entry to demonstrate for democracy. 

It said the 26-year-old from Lancashire, England, was in jail in the
remote northeastern town of Kengtung not far from the Thai border he
crossed on Tuesday carrying pro-democracy leaflets. 

``We are continuing to press for consular access and it has not yet been
granted,'' Australian ambassador to Myanmar Lyndall McLean told Reuters
by telephone. 

The government said on Thursday access was being arranged. 

``We hope it's being arranged,'' Mclean said, ``but it hasn't been
confirmed yet.'' 

The British embassy issued a statement on Thursday saying it was unhappy
with the way Myanmar had handled the case and the lack of consular
access. 

Mawdsley had been arrested for protesting against military rule in
Myanmar twice before -- in 1997 and 1998.  Last year, he was sentenced
to five years' jail but was freed from solitary confinement in Yangon's
notorious Insein jail after 99 days. 

Yangon says he was freed after pleas from his parents and the British
and Australian embassies on condition he did not return. 

Since he had done so, it said that five-year term was being reactivated
and he was handed a fresh five years for illegal entry and seven years
for breaking the publishing law. 

Myanmar's military has been criticised worldwide for human rights abuses
since taking direct power in 1988 by killing thousands to crush a
pro-democracy uprising. 

It ignored the result of the last election in 1990 when the National
League for Democracy won by a landslide and has since tried to silence
dissent through arrests and intimidation. 

Mawdsley's arrest came as dissidents have stepped up activity since
calling for a new mass uprising on the numerically significant ``four
nines day'' -- September 9, 1999. The government has arrested at least
several dozen activists to thwart the campaign in the past month.
Mawdsley is the only foreigner. 

02:32 09-03-99