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Blair Govt Invisible on Securing Ma



Subject: Re: Blair Govt Invisible on Securing Mawdsley release

REPOST

Dawn Star wrote:
> 
> > David Mawdsley said yesterday: "We are asking this Government to recognise
> > that there is a major
> > crisis going on out there. I am critical of Robin Cook because he has not
> > issued one statement of
> > support [of James]. I am critical of a Government which stated in their
> > pre-election speeches that they
> > would conduct an ethical foreign policy and it does not seem to mean very
> > much to me."
> 
> David Arnott wrote:
> >
> > THE JOURNAL (Newcastle, UK)
> >
> > November 9, 1999
> >
> > Mother arrives in Burma to visit jailed activist son - Meeting allowed for
> > one hour
> >
> > BYLINE: by Michael Wood
> >
> >
> >     COUNTY Durham mother Diana Mawdsley has arrived in Burma to visit her
> > son James, who is
> > serving a 17-year sentence for handing out pro-democracy pamphlets.
> >
> > Mrs Mawdsley, of Brancepeth, who arrived in the capital Rangoon over the
> > weekend, was due to take
> > the first available flight to Keng Tung, 390 miles away. She has permission
> > to visit her son for one hour.
> >
> > James, 26, was arrested on August 31 at a town on the border with Thailand,
> > for illegal entry and
> > passing out literature encouraging people to demonstrate against the
> > military regime in Burma.
> >
> > He had been arrested in Burma twice before, and last year served 99 days of
> > a seven-year sentence.
> > After his release - granted after he signed an agreement not to enter the
> > country again - he said he had
> > been tortured.
> >
> > The news came on the day that fellow human rights activist Rachel Goldwyn
> > arrived home after being
> > released early from a seven-year jail sentence in Burma.
> >
> > But while the Foreign Office took credit for the "quiet diplomacy" which
> > secured her release, James's
> > father accused Foreign Secretary Robin Cook of not doing enough to
> > highlight Burma's brutal regime.
> >
> > David Mawdsley said yesterday: "We are asking this Government to recognise
> > that there is a major
> > crisis going on out there. I am critical of Robin Cook because he has not
> > issued one statement of
> > support [of James]. I am critical of a Government which stated in their
> > pre-election speeches that they
> > would conduct an ethical foreign policy and it does not seem to mean very
> > much to me."
> >
> > Mr Mawdsley, who called for sanctions to be imposed on Burma, added that he
> > did not see any short-
> > term prospect of release for James. He said: "James is in control of the
> > situation. He does not want to
> > come out at the moment. He went into Burma and chose to be arrested - he
> > wants to give the Burmese
> > people and political prisoners his moral support."
> >
> > As she returned home to Surrey yesterday, Rachel, 28, gave an insight into
> > the kind of conditions James
> > may be held in when she talked of her time in jail. "Having carefully
> > concealed my emotions since my
> > arrest I sat alone in my cell and cried all night," she said of the day she
> > realised she had been sentenced
> > to seven years.
> >
> > "I had thought that I would be deported following the trial and was
> > horrified when it became clear they
> > meant me to serve my sentence." She said that at times she could handle the
> > situation well, but she
> > became depressed because of the continuous surveillance and the notes which
> > were taken about
> > everything she did.
> >
> > Ms Goldwyn said she was eventually allowed access to books and was
> > delighted when her mother and
> > father visited her.
> >
> > She wrote, through them, to the authorities explaining that she wanted to
> > use her life to help the poorest
> > people of Burma and that she could do independent research on the subject
> > if released.
> >
> > "The offer was accepted. I was released and I'm shortly to return to the
> > country to examine the
> > counter-narcotics measures."
> >
> > Comment: Page 10
> >
> > GRAPHIC: Two activists: Left, James Mawdsley. Right, Rachel Goldwyn with
> > her parents, Charmian
> > and Edward, after her arrival at Heathrow Airport.
> > Internet ProLink PC User