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Reuters-Myanmar ignores pressure, t



Myanmar ignores pressure, takes 18 to court 
07:59 a.m. Aug 14, 1998 Eastern 

By Aung Hla Tun 

YANGON, Myanmar (Reuters) - Myanmar's military rulers ignored pressure from
the outside world on Friday and took 18 foreign political activists to
court for distributing pro-democracy leaflets in Yangon. 

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Yangon told Reuters the 18 --
including six Americans, three Thais, three Indonesians, two Filipinos and
one Australian -- faced prosecution under Myanmar's sweeping 1950 Emergency
Act. 

She said it was unclear exactly which offenses the activists had been
accused of committing. ``Its rather vague,'' she said. 

In Bangkok, capital of neighboring Thailand, a U.S. congressman said there
was growing anger in the United States over the arrests. 

Republican Representative Chris Smith, chairman of the House Sub-Committee
on International Operations and Human Rights, told a news conference:: 

``We are demanding the immediate and unconditional release of these young
people.'' 

The court hearing in Yangon came against a background of another protest by
opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been stopped
on a road outside Yangon and prevented from visiting supporters in western
Myanmar. 

The military government, criticized internationally over its treatment of
Suu Kyi, said on Friday that it had provided a beach umbrella and other
items to ensure her comfort. 

Suu Kyi, a senior member of her National League for Democracy (NLD) and two
drivers were stopped by police in their mini-van on Wednesday. The trip is
a repeat of one last month that led to a six-day standoff in her car and
was ended forcibly on July 29. 

Government officials were not immediately available for comment on the
court appearance of the 18 foreigners. 

One witness said a hearing into the cases began at Yangon's Insein Prison
at around 11.00 a.m. (0430 GMT) and was expected to last for much of
Friday. 

He said the juryless court was hearing evidence from the prosecution. If
the single judge decided there was a case to answer, formal charges would
be pressed. 

Yangon police seized the 18 activists on August 9 after they handed out
thousands of palm-sized red leaflets calling on the people of Myanmar to
remember an opposition uprising. 

Opposition supporters say thousands of people were killed by troops in the
crackdown that followed the uprising on August 8, 1988. The government says
the death toll was only a few dozen. 

Suu Kyi, her party and foreign sympathizers, who include the U.S.
government, are trying to persuade the Myanmar military to step down from
power and introduce democracy. 

The military says ethnically diverse Myanmar is not yet ready for
democratic politics. 

In Bangkok, relatives of some of the detainees from Australia, the
Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, sought visas to go to Myanmar. 

``My son did nothing wrong in Burma, so the military government should
immediately release him and his friend,'' said Eva Sana, mother of Ellena
Sana from the Philippines. ``Six days is long enough for this kind of
treatment.'' 

Some politicians in Asia have pressed for the detainees' release, but the
strongest pressure has come from the United States. 

Smith, a New Jersey Republican, told reporters: 

``Every hour that goes by, the anger of the American people is increasing.
They will join forces and unite with the democratic people of the rest of
the world to put pressure on the Myanmar government,'' he said. 

``It's absurd what the dictatorship is doing,'' Smith later told CNN.
``They are courting a public relations disaster second to none.'' 

He told the news conference it would be premature to say what the United
States might do if Myanmar refused to give up the activists. 

He said he had applied to Yangon for a visa to visit Myanmar twice in the
last three days but had been told only that the request was ``under
consideration.'' 

International pressure is growing against Myanmar's military government
over the issue of human rights, particularly its treatment of Suu Kyi, the
daughter of Myanmar independence hero Aung San. 

Despite growing international calls for change, Yangon has rebuffed a
request by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to receive a special emissary
to discuss ``current developments,'' a U.N. spokesman said on Thursday.