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Student Jailed in Myanmar Returns



Monday September 28 5:22 PM EDT

Student Jailed in Myanmar Returns

LAURENCE ARNOLD Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Safely back at college after a perilous summer, Michele
Keegan empathizes with fellow activists who did not share her quick escape
from the military dictatorship in Myanmar.

``You saw my family's tears, you saw their fears, but in the end you saw me
free,'' said Keegan, one of 18 activists detained in the former Burma for
six days in August. ``Right now, there are thousands of Burmese citizens in
jail, and I can guarantee you that a lot of (them) are being tortured
severely.''

Keegan, a 19-year-old sophomore at American University in Washington,
skipped classes Monday to appear before a joint hearing of House
International Relations subcommittees on Asia and human rights.

The chairman of the human rights subcommittee, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J.,
represents Keegan's hometown and traveled to Southeast Asia during her
captivity to work for her release.

Smith hailed Keegan and other activists for bringing ``the focus of the
world back to Burma, back to Rangoon,'' in a way that even Aung San Suu Kyi,
the Nobel Peace Prize-winning dissident leader, cannot.

On Aug. 9, Keegan and the other activists visited Yangon - the capital city
once known as Rangoon - to hand out small cards bearing this message:
``Goodwill Greeting. We are your friends from around the world. We have not
forgotten you. We support your hopes for human rights and democracy. 8888 -
Don't forget, Don't give up.''

The last part referred to Aug. 8, 1988, the start of a nationwide uprising
against military rule that resulted in a change of leaders but eventually
was crushed. An estimated 3,000 people died. The year after the uprising,
military leaders changed the country's name from Burma to Myanmar.

Keegan and two other American University students - Nisha Anand and Sapna
Chhatpar, both of whom attended Monday's House hearing - were distributing
the cards when they were apprehended.

During six days in custody, the students received adequate food, water and
bedding, Keegan said, but were ``repeatedly lied to'' about the status of
their case. The 18 activists were tried, convicted of sedition and sentenced
to five years in prison, but then expelled immediately.

Keegan called for an end to foreign investment in Myanmar, increased
economic sanctions against that country and the expulsion of its ambassador
to the United States.

But Thomas Vallely, a research associate at the Harvard Institute for
International Development, said Taiwanese or Japanese interests would fill
any gap left by the retreat of U.S. investment.

The United States insists that Myanmar's military leaders recognize a
Parliament elected in 1990. The military has arrested 843 members of Suu
Kyi's party since May, including 195 representatives elected in the 1990
vote, a party statement said recently.