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Myanmar deports Kiwi gatecrasher
Myanmar deports Kiwi gatecrasher
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BANGKOK -- The Myanmar government questioned and deported a foreign
juggler after she tried to show off her craft to opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi, officials and sources said.
New Zealander Jude Smith, 37, was picked up on Sunday after she was
detained while trying to get into the Nobel laureate's house where a
key meeting of her party was taking place.
Ms Smith, who said that she was invited to the politically-charged
meeting, was detained and quizzed by immigration officials before being
bundled onto a flight to Thailand along with her fluorescent juggling
balls.
She had been in Myanmar for two days, hoping to arrange a juggling
spectacular.
The National League for Democracy congress that was going on was
attended by 700 delegates and described by Ms Suu Kyi as the most
successful in years.
A senior military official in Yangon confirmed that Ms Smith was
deported as her invitation was not in her name and as her "activity
was something different from her profession given in her visa
application".
He denied she had been interrogated for hours, saying that she had
been "questioned for a maximum of about 45 minutes". -- AFP.
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All Burma Students' Democratic Organisation (ABSDO) [Australia]
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