[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

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.