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NEWS - Second Briton in Myanmar jai
- Subject: NEWS - Second Briton in Myanmar jai
- From: RangoonPost@xxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 02 Nov 1999 19:12:00
Subject: NEWS - Second Briton in Myanmar jail refuses to back down
Second Briton in Myanmar jail refuses to back down
By Simon Gardner
LONDON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The father of a young Briton still being held in a
Myanmar jail for pro-democracy activism said on Tuesday his son would not
stop criticising the government to gain an early release.
Just 24 hours after Myanmar released another Briton Rachel Goldwyn -- jailed
in September for seven years for shouting and singing pro-democracy slogans
-- David Mawdsley said his son James was resigned to a long spell in jail and
would continue to lobby for human rights.
The Myanmar government has said it cannot be lenient to Mawdsley, who was
jailed for 17 years in September for handing out pro-democracy leaflets,
because he had only just been released early from a five year sentence for a
similar offence on the condition he never return.
``James is criticising the Myanmar government and telling the world the whole
truth about the burnings, murder, rapes and genocide there,'' Mawdsley told
Reuters.
He said neither he nor his son would make a formal apology like Goldwyn's
parents to try and speed up his release.
British newspapers have cited Goldwyn's parents as saying their daughter had
been ``misguided'' for trying to take an active part in politics in Myanmar
-- formerly Burma.
``The Goldwyns did it the way recommended to them. They kept a low profile,
were not critical and apologised,'' Mawdsley said. ``James wants to bring it
to everyone's attention. He is resigned to not being released for a while.''
Goldwyn, 28, was released on Monday and is now touring the country with her
parents before heading home, according to the Myanmar government.
Mawdsley, 26, is currently being held in solitary confinement in jail in the
remote northeastern town of Kengtung.
Myanmar's military junta seized power in 1988, killing thousands when they
crushed a pro-democracy uprising. It then ignored the last election in 1990
-- which the National League for Democracy won by a landslide -- and has
tried to suppress dissent with arrests and intimidation ever since.
15:05 11-02-99