Burma Junta Sentences More Dissidents

Press Release: Terry Evans

18 November 2008

The crackdown on opponents of Burma's brutal junta continues, with nine more political activists sentenced behind closed doors in Rangoon's Insein Prison yesterday. The jail terms handed down - on charges of illegal assembly and involvement in public demonstrations - ranged from 6 to 12 years.

The harshest sentence of 12 years was reserved for Htin Kyaw, who mounted a solo protest in 2007 against the junta's gross mismanagement of Burma's economy. In addition Sandar Wara, a Buddhist monk from Rangoon, received an 8-year sentence for his part in the September 2007 anti-junta demonstrations. Four members of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions together with three members of the youth wing of Burma's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, received 6-year sentences for participating in last year's mass demonstrations.

In a cruel new twist, the Burmese military authorities have transferred numerous political prisoners, including well-known pro-democracy activist Min Ko Naing, from Rangoon to remote prisons across the country. This action is designed to further demoralise the political prisoners by making visits from family and friends virtually impossible.

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