NEWS - Second Briton in Myanmar jai

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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