AFP-Myanmar grants Britain access t

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Subject: AFP-Myanmar grants Britain access to detained activist

Myanmar grants Britain access to detained activist
LONDON, Sept 10 (AFP) - Myanmar's military government has finally allowed
British diplomats to have access to one of two detained British human rights
activists, the Foreign Office here said Friday.
A spokesman said authority had been granted to visit James Mawdsley, who was
jailed for 17 years last week.

A second request, to visit Rachel Goldwyn, who was arrested after singing
revolutionary songs in a Yangon market Tuesday, is still being processed.

The spokesman said officials hoped to visit Mawdsley on either Tuesday or
Wednesday next week.

Permission was granted after Myanmar's ambassador to Britain, Kyaw Win, was
summoned to a meeting here Thursday with British junior foreign minister
Baroness Scotland to be told the situation was "unsatisfactory."

The access visit to Mawdsley, 26, will be the first official contact with
him since he was jailed earlier this month for entering Myanmar illegally
and carrying anti-government literature.

It is still not known whether Mawdsley, who holds British and Australian
citizenship, received legal representation during his one-day trial, and no
details were available on his or Goldwyn's condition.

Mawdsley was jailed after he was arrested in Myanmar for the third time in
two years.

His father, in England, says he is worried that authorities are reluctant to
grant consular access because his son is being tortured.

It is unclear what charges Goldwyn, 28, is facing.

British officials attempted to visit her in a police station following her
arrest but were turned away.

"We will keep trying until we get (access)," the Foreign Office spokesman
said.