NEWS - Britain Urges Quick Appeal f

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Subject: NEWS - Britain Urges Quick Appeal for Activist in Myanmar 

Britain Urges Quick Appeal for Activist in Myanmar 

BANGKOK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Britain's ambassador in military-ruled
Myanmar on Wednesday called on the government to hear a British woman's
appeal against a seven-year jail term for a pro-democracy protest as
soon as possible. 

The British embassy said ambassador John Jenkins met Yangon's Deputy
Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win and Attorney General Tha Tun to discuss
Rachel Goldwyn and James Mawdsley, a British man jailed for 17 years,
also for pro-democracy activism. 

"He expressed concern about the way the cases have been handled and the
severity of the sentences. He pressed to have access to both of them
soon and he asked that Rachel's appeal be heard as soon as possible," a
British embassy official said. 

"The Burmese are clearly taking these concerns seriously and we hope to
have access to Rachel before the end of the week," the official said.
The was no immediate comment from the government. 

Goldwyn's lawyer said at her trial last Thursday that the 28-year-old
human rights worker would appeal. She was sentenced 

following a solo street protest in Yangon the previous week that a court
ruled was a danger to state security. 

The embassy said Mawdsley had not decided whether to appeal. 

The a 26-year-old from Lancashire, who also has an Australian passport,
was jailed on September 1 after crossing into northeast Myanmar a day
before with pro-democracy leaflets. 

The government has said it could not be lenient with him as it was his
third arrest for similar protests in Myanmar. He served 99 days of a
five-year sentence for illegal entry last year before being deported on
condition he never return. 

Political analysts in Myanmar say Goldwyn could have her sentence
suspended if the appeal is successful and be deported given it was her
first offence. 

She has been held at Yangon's notorious Insein Jail where many political
prisoners have been detained in the past. The embassy has said she was
being well treated. 

Mawdsley was being held in jail in the remote northeastern town of
Kengtung, where British and Australian officials saw him last week for
the first time since his arrest. He appeared well.