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Activist Freed From Myanmar Prison
Monday November 1 6:43 AM ET
Activist Freed From Myanmar Prison
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - A British activist sentenced to
seven years
in prison after singing a pro-democracy song against
Myanmar's military
regime was released today after serving less than two
months.
Rachel Goldwyn, 28, from Barnes in southwest London, was
freed from
Yangon's notorious Insein prison, where hundreds of
political prisoners
are held, in what the British Foreign Office called ``a
victory for quiet
diplomacy.''
``Since Rachel was jailed, we have been in constant contact with the Burmese
authorities and
have been able to pass her essentials, such as soap and other health
materials,'' a Foreign Office
spokesman said in London on customary condition of anonymity.
The Myanmar government, which keeps a tight lid on dissent and has been
quick to arrest
foreigners who stage overt protests, confirmed the release and said in a
statement that Goldwyn
and her parents had left for a sightseeing trip upcountry.
``During her detention she was given books,'' a government spokesman said on
customary
condition of anonymity. ``She is in good health.''
The spokesman said officials will not yet consider clemency for another
jailed British activist,
James Mawdsley, who is serving a 17-year sentence after being arrested a
third time for
protesting against the regime.
The British diplomat said Goldwyn signed an undertaking not to again get
involved in political
activities in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
Goldwyn's parents arrived in Yangon over a month ago to pursue an appeal
against their
daughter's sentence.
They had been visiting her every other day in Insein prison, where Goldwyn
was reportedly
detained in solitary confinement. She was jailed on Sept. 16 to serve seven
years with labor,
though she was not actually forced to work, the spokesperson said.
Goldwyn was arrested after chaining herself to a lamppost and shouting and
singing
pro-democracy slogans and songs in downtown Yangon on Sept. 7. She drew a
crowd of
about 1,000 people.
Myanmar authorities saw that as a threat to national security, ahead of
9-9-99 day on Sept. 9,
when anti-Yangon dissidents planned a popular uprising against military
rule, which failed to take
off.
The other British prisoner, Mawdsley, 26, of Lancashire, was arrested for
the third time by
Myanmar officials as he passed out leaflets in advance of a key
pro-democracy movement
anniversary in September. He had promised to stay out of Myanmar after his
last arrest, but
returned in violation of the promise.
The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962. An uprising was crushed in
bloodshed in 1988 but
vaulted Aung San Suu Kyi to the forefront of the pro-democracy movement.
While serving what became six years of house arrest, she won the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1991
for her nonviolent promotion of democracy, and Mawdsley and others have said
they are
inspired by her struggle.
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