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Hundreds Reported Jailed in Myanmar



Friday January 22 11:23 AM ET

Hundreds Reported Jailed in Myanmar

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - At least 270 people were sentenced to long prison
terms in Myanmar this month for demanding that a parliament elected in 1990
finally be convened, a dissident group reported Friday.

Myanmar's government started detaining about 1,000 supporters of the
National League for Democracy in September, but there had previously been
little word of prison sentences. Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi
is the leader of the NLD.

Suu Kyi's party won parliamentary elections allowed by the military in 1990.
But the ruling council of generals never allowed the parliament to meet.

The All-Burma Federation of Student Unions, a Bangkok-based exile group,
said those sentenced included more than 200 students given 14 years each.
Exceptionally long sentences of 52, 38, 23 and 21 years were handed down to
four activists. Most of the rest received seven years.

Political and security trials in Myanmar are secret and word of sentencing
filters out only slowly.

There was no immediate government comment on the report.

Suu Kyi stepped up her campaign against the military regime last year by
launching new calls to convene the parliament.

The government responded with a crackdown against her party that led to mass
detentions and the closing of some 40 party offices.

The military has ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, since 1962. Suu Kyi is
permitted almost no political activities.



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