Britain, Canada Lead Protests against Sentencing of Dissidents

The governments of Britain and Canada led an international wave of protests on Wednesday against the harsh prison sentences imposed on 39 pro-democracy activists by a court in Rangoon’s Insein Prison.

Bill Rammell, a minister at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said in a statement: “Those detained have done nothing other than exercise their right to express themselves and have at all times underlined their willingness to work with others for a better Burma.”  

Rammell called for the release of all political detainees, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The election planned for 2010 would not be free unless political prisoners were released, he said.

“There can be nothing approaching free elections until these steps are taken,” Rammell declared.

The 39 dissidents, including 88 Generation Students activists, monks and prominent labor activist Su Su Nway were sentenced to long prison terms by the Insein Prison court on Tuesday. Fourteen of the accused received sentences of 65 years.

Canada’s Foreign Minister, Lawrence Cannon, said: “Canada is deeply concerned to learn that 14 members of the 88 Generation Students group have each been sentenced to 65 years’ imprisonment.”

Cannon declared: "We continue to urge the regime to begin a genuine dialogue with the democratic opposition and ethnic minorities in order to foster a political process leading to the full restoration of democracy."

London-based Amnesty International said the prison sentences passed by the court were a powerful reminder that the Burmese regime is neglecting calls by the international community to clean up its human rights record.   

Benjamin Zawacki, an Amnesty International Burma’s researcher, said: “Even as the government continues to claim that its new constitution and plans for elections in 2010 are genuine efforts toward increasing political participation, this sentencing sends a clear signal that it will not tolerate views contrary to its own by handing down such severe sentences.”

Amnesty International says there are more than 2,100 political prisoners in Burma.

The London-based Burma Campaign-UK urged the UN to take action on behalf of the 14 convicted members of the 88 Generation Students group.

“If they are forced to serve their full terms, they will die in jail,” the organization said in a statement.

The organization’s Campaigns Officer, Nang Seng, said that by imprisoning the dissidents the regime was defying a call by the UN Security Council in October to free political prisoners.

Burmese lawyer Thein Nyunt, a member of the opposition National League for Democracy’s information department, said the “huge punishments” were apparently an act of revenge against the political activists. The sentences were “inappropriate,” he said.

Thakin Chan Htun, a Burmese veteran politician, agreed and said the sentences conflicted with the rule of law in Burma.

Although the sentences were intended to “threaten people,” they hurt the regime’s image. “Not only the Burmese people but also the world will see it as fascism. It is likely that they portrayed themselves as a fascist government.”

An ethnic Chin politician, Cin Sian Thang, Chairman of the Zomi National Congress in Rangoon, described the sentences as “terrible…It doesn’t lead in the direction of democracy,” he said.     

Cin Sian Than also said that the severe punishments were part of the preparation for the general election planned for 2010.