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NEWS Part 1 - Activists back in U.
Activists back in U.S. from Myanmar
August 17, 1998
Web posted at: 8:57 a.m. EDT (1257 GMT)
In this story:
-Prison conditions fine
-Pledge to continue fight
-Related stories and sites
NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) -- Now
back in the United States, Michele
Keegan said she was never scared
during the week she was held under
arrest in Myanmar for handing out pro-democracy leaflets.
"I was never afraid because fear was not an option," the
19-year-old
Hamilton Township resident said early Monday after she
arrived at
Newark International Airport to the hugs of waiting family
and friends.
"That's what the government uses to oppress its people," she
said.
"That's the hold they have on them, fear. They don't know
how to react
when you don't have fear."
Keegan also knew she and 17 fellow activists, including five
other
Americans, would probably be deported rather than serve
prison time
for violating the law of the military dictatorship.
"That's what we most likely thought would happen," she said.
"We
thought we'd be deported much sooner than we were."
Prison conditions 'fine'
Keegan was greeted by about 25
family members and friends who
erupted in cheers when she arrived
at the airport with fellow activist
Anjanette Hamilton, 20, of
Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Keegan's mother, Callie Keegan,
shouted, "We got her! We got her!"
as she walked with her daughter to
the waiting room where other family and friends were
waiting. Many
wore yellow ribbons or yellow shirts to symbolize their
support.
The young women arrived in Bangkok, Thailand, from
neighboring
Myanmar on Saturday. All 18 activists had been tried and
sentenced
Friday to five years of hard labor, then deported the next
day from
Myanmar.
Keegan was arrested while handing out the leaflets in a
market and
Hamilton was taken into custody after throwing the papers
from a cab
window.
The leaflets, printed in English and Burmese, urged the
Burmese to
continue their fight for human rights and democracy.
The conditions of their imprisonment
were "fine," probably because the
military government was afraid of
international repercussions if they
were mistreated, Keegan said.
"The conditions there for the
Burmese are absolutely appalling,"
Hamilton added.
Pledge to continue fight
Two other American University students, members of the Free
Burma
Coalition, also arrived in the United States. Sapna Chhatpar
and
Nisha Anand were to fly from Los Angeles to Washington,
D.C., where
American University is located.
Despite a warning that the activists would have to serve
their
sentences and additional penalties if they returned to
Myanmar and
again broke the law, the four pledged to continue fighting
for human
rights there.