NEWS - Myanmar Frees British Activi

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Subject: NEWS - Myanmar Frees British Activist from Jail Early

Myanmar Frees British Activist from Jail Early

LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - A British woman jailed for seven years in
Myanmar after staging a pro-democracy protest was freed on Monday after
serving less than two months in prison. 

Britain's Foreign Office put Rachel Goldwyn's early release down to
"quiet diplomacy" and said the 28-year-old Londoner was now celebrating
with her parents in Myanmar. 

"Rachel was released today. Obviously this is welcome news to her and
her family," said a Foreign Office spokesman. 

Human rights worker Goldwyn was jailed in September for "endangering
state security" after she tied herself to a lamp post in Yangon,
shouting and singing pro-democracy slogans. 

Goldwyn's September 7 solo protest earned her seven years with labour --
a sentence that stunned her family. 

"I'm thrilled. It's fantastic," said her sister Naomi Rose after the
Foreign Office woke her with the news that Goldwyn was now free. Rose
told BBC radio the two months had "been like two years to me" and called
her sister's release a total surprise. 

Goldwyn is now with her parents in Myanmar and is set to fly back to her
suburban southwest London home in a few days. 

The Foreign Office spokesman did not say why the authorities in Myanmar,
formerly Burma, had opted for an early release, saying only: "This is a
matter which has been resolved by quiet diplomacy by all parties." 

Britain had urged military-ruled Myanmar to hear Goldwyn's appeal as
soon as possible and had expressed concern about both the handling of
the case and severity of the sentence. 

Myanmar's military does not tolerate dissent and has been widely
criticised for rights abuses since taking direct power in 1988 by
killing thousands in a pro-democracy uprising. 

It ignored the 1990 general election, which the opposition National
League for Democracy won by a landslide, and has since tried to suppress
dissent through arrests and intimidation. 

Goldwyn had admitted the protest -- her first offence in Myanmar -- but
insisted her aim was not to stir unrest. 

"I wasn't trying to incite others," she said before her sentencing. "I
was just trying to show the extent of control, not to undermine
security." 

She has been held at Yangon's notorious Insein Jail, past home to many
political prisoners. The embassy has said she was being well treated but
the spokesman had no comment on her health or spirits on Monday. 

"We've been visiting her on a regular basis and giving her prison
comforts," said the Foreign Office spokesman. 

While Goldwyn is due home soon, she leaves behind fellow activist James
Mawdsley, a British man who was jailed in September for 17 years for his
pro-democracy activities.