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BURMA RELATED NEWS - OCT - 21, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Bangladesh urges Myanmar to take
refugees back
AFP - Malaysia, Turkey reproach IPU criticism
over detained politicians
AP - British Activist Freed in
Myanmar
AP - Malaysia Hopes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar Will
Join ASEM
The Daily Telegraph - Freed Briton refuses to be
silenced
BBC - Activist urges action against
Burma
Voila(UK) - Human rights activist slams Myanmar junta as
reptilian
Ananova - Prosecute
Burmese military, says freed activist
Bkk Post - Security chief upset by criticism of
camp conditions
Bkk Post - Asem divided on human
rights
Bkk Post - Editorial - Convention could
ease refugee burden
SCMP - Freed British activist arrives
home
WIRE:10/21/2000 09:07:00 ET
Bangladesh urges Myanmar to take refugees back DHAKA, Oct 21 (Reuters) -
Bangladesh on Saturday urged Myanmar to repatriate nearly 21,000 Myanmar Muslim
refugees who have been living in Bangladesh for years. They are the remnants of
more than 250,000 refugees, called Rohingyas, who fled to Cox"s Bazar from
Arakan province in 1991 trying to escape military persecution, including
killings and rape.
"Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad has asked a visiting Myanmar envoy to
expedite the process of taking back the remaining refugees," ministry officials
said. Azad told Khin Maung Win, deputy foreign minister of Myanmar, that the
Myanmar government should work out how to take back the refugees. He said the
two countries were expected to hold a formal meeting soon to resolve the issue
"once and for all."
The Myanmar envoy arrived here on Friday to deliver a letter from Burmese
military ruler General Than Shew to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The
contents of the letter were not known.
"Bangladesh is still waiting for Yangon authorities to repatriate the
refugees from two camps but they seem reluctant," said Borhanuddin Ahmed, relief
and repatriation commissioner at Cox"s Bazar, bordering west Myanmar"s
Muslim-majority Arakan province, speaking to Reuters on Friday.
Most of the refugees have returned to Myanmar under the supervision of the
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which said most of those who
crossed the border had been economic refugees. The repatriation process stopped
in the middle of 1997.
Saturday, October 21 5:17 PM SGT
Malaysia, Turkey reproach IPU criticism over detained politicians JAKARTA, Oct 21 (AFP) -
International lawmakers wrapping up a six-day conference here Saturday rebuked
16 nations for their treatment of opposition parties and demanded the release of
dissidents held in jail.
The 505 parliamentarians from 108 countries passsed resolutions attacking
the treatment of detained and convicted politicians in Argentina, Belarus,
Burundi, Cambodia, Colombia, Djibouti, Ecuador, Gambia, Guinea, Honduras,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Moldova, Sri Lanka and Turkey.
The parliamentarians were meeting together in Jakarta for the International
Parliamentary Union's (IPU) 104th conference.
The IPU rebuked Malaysia over the conviction of its former deputy prime
minister Anwar Ibrahim on corruption and sodomy charges, saying there were
"reliable allegations concerning the use of coerced statements of
witnesses."
In its resolution it expressed fear that the motives for his prosecution
were "not of a legal nature" and that they were "built on the presumption of
guilt."
It also called for Anwar's release, pending appeal against his convictions,
on the grounds of reports that his health had deteriorated.
The Malaysian delegation contested the resolution, saying it did not
"reflect the actual situation."
"As a matter of fact a number of politicians from the ruling party have
also been prosecuted," delegation leader Husni Hanazadzlah said.
"We would like to place on record our reservation on this
resolution."
Turkey was rebuked for the prosecution of 15 Kurdish MPs accused of
separatism in 1994.
In its resolution the IPU said they were prosecuted for exercising their
right to free _expression_ and had been denied a fair trial and called for
amnesties for all 15.
The Turkish delegation expressed its reservation on the grounds that the
cases were being processed in the European Court of Human Rights.
"Whatever the circumstances, we're all parliamentarians, not judges,"
delegation leader Professor Ziya Aktas said.
"We believe the decision of this (European) court must be the only decision
we have to consider. We have to wait for it," Aktas said.
Myanmar was rebuked over its treatment of 66 opposition politicians, around
50 of whom are in detention, and eight of which are dead.
The IPU resolution expressed "outrage" at the ongoing harassment, arrest
and sentencing of politicians who were elected to, but have been denied, power
in Myanmar in 1990.
It called for the immediate release of all detained politicians and a halt
to the suppression of their political activities.
In its six-day bi-annual meet the IPU called for the lifting of sanctions
against Iraq and a ban on including food and medicines in future sanctions, and
urged Israel to cease military action in the Middle East.
Separately representatives of the Burmese government in exile released a
petition signed by some 2,000 MPs from 85 countries calling for the immediate
release of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.
The exiled politicians were at the congress as guests of the Danish
delegation. There was no official delegation from Myanmar.
Saturday, October 21 1:35 AM SGT
British Activist Freed in Myanmar By MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press Writer BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A
British human rights activist, freed Friday after nearly 14 months in solitary
confinement in Myanmar, urged world leaders to press for democracy in the
military-ruled country.
``I am out but the injustice and suffering continues,'' James Mawdsley, 27,
told reporters at the Bangkok airport, where he stopped en route to London. ``I
pray the international community will extend the support they have given me to
the Burmese people.''
Mawdsley left Myanmar, also called Burma, after being freed from a jail in
the northeastern part of the country. He had served 415 days of a 17-year
sentence there on charges of immigration offenses and violating a publications
law by handing out pro-democracy leaflets.
Myanmar's military junta said it deported Mawdsley following requests from
the British Foreign Office. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook credited both
lobbying by his family and friends and diplomatic pressure.
``James's only crime was to highlight the suppression of ethnic minorities
in Burma and to call for democratic change,'' Cook said in Seoul, South Korea.
The government announced Wednesday that it planned to free Mawdsley, but he
said he was not told until Friday morning.
``I have seen what I needed to see and I hope to build on that in different
ways,'' the activist said. ``I am very glad I went. And I am very very glad to
get out.''
Mawdsley's release ends a yearlong tussle between the governments of
Myanmar and Britain which put the spotlight on the junta's heavily criticized
human rights record.
Criticism of Myanmar's leadership stiffened last month when British
officials said Mawdsley had been beaten by guards and had a broken nose and two
black eyes. The government said he injured himself accidentally in a scuffle
with prison guards.
Mawdsley's mother, Diana, who escorted him out of the country, said her son
had received a ``vicious beating'' over three days but had recovered and
received a clean bill of health from an Australian Embassy doctor in Yangon.
``For some Burmese prisoners it is much more than this,'' she said.
Mawdsley had been kept in an isolated cell in the Keng Tung prison, 390
miles northeast of Yangon, since September 1999, after he sneaked into Myanmar
to protest the junta.
His release comes amid widespread condemnation of the junta for its
crackdown on pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a 1991 Nobel
peace prize winner, and other leaders of her party.
Jubilee Campaign, a lobbying group that worked to free Mawdsley, praised
his release and urged the international community to take action against the
``systematic abuse of human rights'' in Myanmar.
Mawdsley, from Lancashire in northwest England, had been arrested in
Myanmar twice before his sentencing last year. In 1998, he served 99 days of a
7-year sentence, but was pardoned on condition he never return to the country.
Saturday, October 21 6:13 PM SGT
Malaysia Hopes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar Will Join ASEM SEOUL (AP)--Malaysian Foreign
Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Saturday he hoped that Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar
could quickly join the biennial meetings of Asian and European leaders.
Albar, speaking at the close of an Asia-Europe Meeting in Seoul, said his country was keen to see the three Southeast Asian nations' candidacy tabled at the next ASEM due to be held in 2002 in Copenhagen. ASEM currently includes 10 Asian countries and the 15 European Union
nations. All members of the Association of Southeast Asian nations are part of
ASEM except for Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
European nations may raise problems over the entry of Myanmar.
The EU is strongly critical of the military regime's treatment of
opponents, including Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and has boycotted
meetings with the ASEAN group rather than sit down with the Myanmar leadership
Under ASEM guidelines approved Saturday by the leaders, each side, European
and Asian, can propose new members. But any decision to take in a new member
will have to be made by consensus.
Some 20 countries have said they want to join the ASEM meetings, including
Australia and New Zealand, Pakistan, India and Russia.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed a message to the
leaders taking part in the Asia-Europe summit, saying that "Russia's history and
tradition are inseparably linked both with Asia and Europe."
The Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoted Putin's message as saying that
"Russia's inclusion in ASEM would have contributed to the further promotion of a
multifarious dialogue between Asia and Europe."
In Seoul, leaders agreed in principle on ASEM's future expansion, but
discussion on specific candidates were postponed until the next meeting in 2002.
The issue of membership is overshadowed by a tiff between Asians and
Europeans on which of the two continents Australia and New Zealand belong to.
Malaysia argues that the two countries should join as European nations,
because they are being put forward by the E.U., not by Asia.
"We are not against Australia and New Zealand but they must be properly
sponsored, or brought under a certain group. The one who is promoting Australia
and New Zealand is the European group," Albar said.
If they want to join on the Asian side, "Australia and New Zealand have
first of all to decide that they are Asian," he said.
The biennial EU-Asian summits were set up four years ago to improve
relations between the two sides.
The Daily Telegraph
Saturday 21 October 2000 Freed Briton refuses to be silenced By Alex Spillius in Bangkok THE British human rights activist James Mawdsley was freed by Burma
yesterday after serving 415 days in a rat-infested cell for handing out
pro-democracy leaflets.
Mr Mawdsley, 27, who was serving a 17-year sentence, was kept in solitary
confinement throughout and was severely beaten by guards last month. Despite his
ordeal, he looked fit when he arrived in Bangkok from Rangoon on his way home.
Accompanied by his mother, Diana, he thanked his family, friends, girlfriend,
the Church and the Foreign Office for "keeping me happy and well and giving me
the protection which Burmese prisoners do not have".
At Rangoon airport, where he had been handed over to John Jenkins, the
British ambassador, he remained defiant. He refused to sign release papers
demanding that he did not criticise the military regime once he left the
country. He wore a blue shirt delivered by his mother last week and a pair of
trousers lent by Mr Jenkins.
Reading from a handwritten statement, he said: "I am out, but the injustice
and suffering continue." To the relief of family and friends, he confirmed that
he would not return to Burma under the present regime. He said: "I have built a
platform and seen what I needed to see and I hope to build on that from outside.
I am very glad I went in and I am very glad to be out."
He was supported by human rights pressure groups who said that Mr Mawdsley,
a former Bristol University student, had "more than done his bit". He was
subjected to barked commands and government propaganda blaring from loudspeakers
at any time of the day or night during his time in jail. He was beaten for
complaining about his solitary confinement and for scratching the word "peace"
on the wall.
The junta agreed to free him after his beating provoked angry protests by
the Foreign Office and the United Nations said his detention was illegal. Mrs
Mawdsley said: "We are very proud of James. This has been a wonderful
reunion."
BBC - Saturday, 21 October, 2000,
09:21 GMT 10:21 UK
Activist urges action against Burma British human rights activist James Mawdsley, freed from jail in Burma
after 415 days in solitary confinement, has said the military junta in Rangoon
should be charged with genocide.
"Their stupidity is incredible. If the international community put pressure
on, they would give in so easily," he told a news conference at Heathrow
Airport, shortly after arriving back in the UK.
"It's time genocide charges were brought against the regime in Burma," he
said.
Mr Mawdsley, 27, from Lancashire, was jailed for 17 years in September
1999, after being arrested for protesting against the military regime and
carrying pro-democracy leaflets.
Mr Mawdsley landed at Heathrow at 0508 BST on Saturday with his mother,
Diana, who has been in Burma since 4 September.
'Mental battle'
Asked about his prison conditions in Burma, he said that "physically you
get used to it, but mentally it is a constant battle".
"It's the mental thing of never being able to get the truth. You have to
think 'what am I saying, is this going to get me a beating?'"
He said he gained mental strength from God.
At the end of September, Mr Mawdsley said he had been beaten for several
days by his guards in the notorious Keng Tung prison, after he complained about
being kept in solitary confinement.
The campaigner, who holds both Australian and British nationality, has
already been deported twice from Burma in the two previous years.
Junta crackdown
Mr Mawdsley said that the junta had killed 30,000 ethnic Karen people and
displaced 600,000 Karen and Shan from their villages in the past 10 years.
When he entered Burma with Karen guerrillas, "as far as the eye could see
there were no villages," he said.
Mr Mawdsley's jail sentence focused world attention on the junta, which has
ruled Burma for the last 10 years, despite being heavily defeated in democratic
elections by Burma's National League for Democracy (NLD).
He said he was inspired in jail by the courage of other prisoners whose
conditions were worse than his.
"I met a prisoner in there for 20 years - an incredibly brave man. He was
laughing - and it was totally genuine."
He said he saw hundreds of prisoners in leg irons, who were given just a
small bowl of rice with a dribble of curry on it twice a day.
He said he was drawn to Burma by the courage of the Karen and democracy
campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi.
Mr Mawdsley's 17-year sentence included five years for violating Burma's
immigration law.
His mother, Diane Mawdsley, said she was proud of her son and praised the
"tremendous support" the family had received from the British public.
Campaign
Earlier, UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook acknowledged the "tireless
efforts" of Mr Mawdsley's family, friends and others in campaigning for his
release.
"James's only crime was to highlight the suppression of ethnic minorities
in Burma and to call for democratic change," Mr Cook added.
Mark Rowland of the Jubilee Campaign, a lobby group that has worked for his
freedom, said: "This is an epic example of one individual's sacrifice to
challenge oppression."
Voila (UK) - Oct 21,
2000.
Human rights activist slams Myanmar junta as reptilian LONDON (AFP) - - British human
rights activist James Mawdsley slammed the Yangon regime as stupid and reptilian
as he arrived in Britain on Saturday after more than a year in a Myanmar jail
for distributing pro-democracy leaflets.
"The characteristic of the junta is their stupidity. They are reptiles," he
told reporters.
Mawdsley, 27, was reunited with his family at London's Heathrow airport at
5:08 a.m. (0408 GMT) after arriving on a flight from Bangkok.
He had been sentenced to 17 years in Myanmar's notorious Keng Tung prison,
630 kilometres (390 miles) from Yangon, where he was in solitary confinement for
415 days and endured several vicious beatings.
He had been deported twice from the former British colony prior to his
conviction, and said in Bangkok, en route to London, that this time he wouldn't
be going back.
"The prison was hard but physical conditions you can adapt to. It is the
mental conditions that are hardest. You have to think about everything you are
saying, thinking 'will this get me a beating?'" Mawdsley told a press conference
shortly after his arrival in London.
Accompanied by his parents, Mawdsley said that the best thing about his
return was the freedom of _expression_.
"In prison I talked to the prison guards, but it was always on the sly.
They were always looking over their shoulder,"he said.
"To be back in the UK and hear people talking without fear is magic. It's a
magic we forget," he added.
Mawdsley also accused the Myanmar junta of genocide.
"They have killed 30,000 member of the Karen ethnic minority since 1992 and
300,000 have been forced to flee their homes," he said.
"I am free but there are more than 1,500 political prisoners still in Burma
(Myanmar)," he added.
He called on the international community to put pressure of the regime in
Yangon.
"The international community can move that junta, my case showed that," he
said.
Ananova - Oct 21,
2000.
Prosecute Burmese military, says freed activist Freed British human rights activist James Mawdsley has called for the
Burmese military to be prosecuted for war crimes.
He arrived back in Britain today after spending more than a year in a
Burmese jail for distributing pro-democracy leaflets. He was in solitary
confinement for 415 days and endured several vicious beatings.
Describing his conditions in solitary, Mr Mawdsley said: "Prison was hard
but physical conditions you can adapt to, anyone can - you would be surprised.
It's the mental thing of never being able to get the truth. You have to think
'What am I saying? Is this going to get me a beating?'
"Physically you get used to it, but mentally it is a constant
battle."
He said he gained mental strength from God.
Mr Mawdsley called for the Burmese military to be prosecuted for war
crimes.
"It's time genocide charges were brought against the regime in Burma," he
said.
Bangkok Post - Oct - 21,
2000.
Security chief upset by criticism of camp conditions Living standards are better than in Burma Yuwadee Tunyasiri National Security Council secretary-general Kachadpai Burusapatana is very
upset with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and has told it to
review its humanitarian role in the country.
He said commissioner Sadako Ogata's negative remarks about a refugee camp
in Ratchaburi province were misleading and very disappointing.
Thailand had carried the burden of sheltering Burmese refugees for 15 years
without the help of any other nation.
"Her remark was based only on a short visit to the Tham Hin camp but it
seems to totally dismiss what Thailand has long been sacrificing.
"This is very disappointing. I don't understand why she said that as she is
about to end her decade-long service here next month.
"In the past, Thailand together with the UNHCR has successfully helped
Indochinese refugees," he said.
He warned Ms Ogata to study the living conditions of refugees thoroughly
before making any more comments that could mislead the world community.
"She did not bother to mention what we have done to help the refugees in
terms of their stay and safety.
"We have never closed any refugee camps to any visitors. Their shelters are
normally made of local materials and similar to houses of the locals," Mr
Kachadpai said.
Instead of criticising Thailand the UNHCR should solve refugee problems
directly at the source.
"The UNHCR must take action by setting up refugee camps in Burma," he
said.
Refugees were a major concern for Thailand.
Another refugee camp in Tha Songyang district of Tak province, where tens
of thousands of refugees are being put up, had caused uneasiness among people
living in its vicinity and had also led to protests.
"The NSC has asked Thais to stay calm. This also worries the Interior
Ministry because it must ensure Thai safety," he said.
During her tour at the Tham Hin camp in Ratchaburi's Suan Phung district on
Tuesday, Ms Ogata expressed disappointment at camp conditions.
"Actually refugees' living conditions in the camp are better than what they
had in Burma. When they are ill, we have doctors to take care of them.
"If the camp is improved up to UNHCR standards, more refugees will arrive.
Now we have over 100,000 of them and want them to return home right away," Mr
Kachadpai said.
Bangkok Post - Oct 21,
2000.
Asem divided on human rights Achara Ashayagachat in Seoul Asian and European leaders were divided yesterday over the sensitive issues
of democracy and human rights and decided to leave the matters for their next
gathering.
South Korea's Policy Planning and International Organisations Deputy
Minister Choi Young-jin said although talks by the European leaders plus the
president of the European Commission (EC) were productive and frank with their
Asian counterparts, there were two different schools of thought on democracy and
human rights.
Foreign ministers had been assigned to work on them for the next summit in
two years time, the senior Korean official said.
Thai official sources said that it was the first time Asian leaders have
discussed such controversial issues as democracy and human rights at an
Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem).
Malaysian, Indonesian, Filipino and Singaporean leaders cautioned that
democracy and human rights should not be interpreted as a "one size fits all"
model, the source said.
The issues were among several topics discussed at the third Asem in Seoul
which ends today. The European side comprises 15 members of the European Union
and the EC, while Asia is represented by seven members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations plus China, Japan and South Korea.
In his speech to open the summit, Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai called
for more efforts to facilitate and promote trade and investment, joint tasks to
reduce the knowledge gap on information technology and closer co-operation to
end transnational crimes.
"The creation of more electronic linkages between Asia and Europe will
boost our trade and investment ties and enhance the interaction and dialogue
between our peoples," Mr Chuan said.
While moves to foster governmental links were under way, Mr Choi emphasised
that relations between the government sector and non-governmental organisations,
which organised demonstrations as well as a parallel forum to the summit, had
not yet been prepared.
The leaders yesterday adopted a declaration expressing "support for the
process of rapprochement and co-operation" between North and South Korea, said
Mr Choi.
They also endorsed the Asia-Europe Co-operation Framework 2000 that
provides the principles and a vision for Asem as the official consultative body
among the Asian and European governments, he said.
The leaders agreed that the United Nations would lead the international
community in restoring and maintaining peace in East Timor and were sympathetic
to Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid's commitment to restore peace and
safety to his country.
Bangkok Post - Oct
21, 2000.
Editorial - Convention could ease refugee burden Still looking after some 100,000 Burmese refugees after 12 years, and
squeezed by dwindling donor fatigue, Thailand should adjust its approach to
refugees or prepare to be forgotten.
Though causing deep suffering, the situation in Burma today is not drawing
the level of international attention that Cambodia did 20 years ago.
Burma is threatened by its own government, not by a foreign occupation army
as Cambodia was. The scale and spread of armed conflict is much less although
the political problems might be more complex.
In addition, in the Cambodian case, an internationally-brokered peace
agreement made specific provisions for refugees.
In the Burmese case, Thailand has to depend on its own diplomacy with Burma
and the generosity of friends who have no binding commitment to help.
The deadlocked bilateral situation is well known while the generosity of
friends is drying up with their own economic and political constraints, and
diminishing headlines on Burma.
Thailand's main concern is to be relieved of the burden of refugees, and
protect Thai people affected by the influx. Resettlement has dwindled to a
trickle, enhancing the importance of repatriation.
The 1951 Convention on Refugees contains no requirement for well-heeled
countries to take refugees off the hands of first-asylum countries, which are
usually less well-off.
But accession to it would bring Thailand into an issue-specific club, which
should help members before non-members.
Moreover, Thailand has an opportunity to move for some assurance of burden
sharing during the expert-level global consultation on the convention that is
expected to begin early next year.
Thai experts, for instance, could propose the inclusion in a clause
committing a certain category of countries to offer resettlement help.
They also could raise the problem of locally affected communities, which
arises wherever there is a large influx of refugees.
But in any mass refugee situation, resettlement can only relieve a small
part of the burden. Repatriation deals with the bulk, and is the preferred
choice of refugees if peace and freedoms are guaranteed.
In Burma, this is an enormous "if", hence the lingering camps of uprooted
and deprived people along the border.
Given the disregard that Burma has shown towards the United Nations, by
defying yearly general assembly resolutions and condemning rapporteur reports,
it could be argued that Thailand's accession to the Convention on Refugees would
make it even more difficult to negotiate repatriation with Rangoon.
But the Burmese leadership is unpredictable and the country remains a UN
member state.
If authorities still think resistance to the convention-which demands
adherence to the principle of non-refoulement-leaves Thailand with what they
think is an ace card, that of sending refugees back against their will, they
should think again.
The last time Thailand staged a large-scale forced repatriation was in June
1980, with 8,000 Cambodians. The disastrous result should not be
forgotten.
Vietnam, which saw it as a provocation, responded with an incursion, which
brought in a new influx of some 50,000 refugees.
Signatories of the convention have to meet certain standards, which some
government agencies brought to life by the Cold War would find very
tiresome.
But there is room for signatories to deny refugee status to those deemed
national security threats. Though this might be difficult in practice, there
would be a legal basis for it.
If Thailand chooses to stay out of the convention, it should lower its
aspiration to be a regional leader in human rights issues.
South China Morning Post
Saturday, October 21, 2000 BURMA - Freed British activist arrives home REUTERS in London Human rights activist James Mawdsley arrived back in Britain on Saturday
after his release from a Burmese prison saying he would continue to
campaign.
Mr Mawdsley, who was released on Friday, said he wanted genocide charges brought against Burma's military rulers whom he described as ''reptiles'' and appealed to the international community to step up its pressure. Mr Mawdlsey said Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition
National League for Democracy (NLD), had been ''relentlessly and shamelessly
persecuted'' and her courage had inspired him.
''The resources and money and effort that the junta put in to trying to
destroy her is incredible. How can we from democracies turn our backs on that?''
he said at a news conference at London's Heathrow Airport.
The NLD won elections in 1990 by a landslide but has never been allowed to
govern.
''What I've been looking forward to doing is to sit and listen to people
talking without fear. To be back in the UK and to hear people talking without
fear is magic. It's a magic we forget,'' he said.
Mr Mawdsley, who had served more than a year of a 17-year sentence for
handing out pro-democracy leaflets in the military-ruled country, said he did
not rule out a return to Burma.
Burma has warned Mr Mawdsley will go back to jail if he returns to the
country illegally. He had already been deported twice before being jailed last
year.
''I've seen what I wanted to see and learnt what I wanted to learn and I
want to build on that in other ways. But I'm drawn to Burma. It's not by the
suffering, it's by the courage,'' he said.
Britain said earlier this year that Mr Mawdsley had been badly beaten in
prison, suffering a broken nose and two black eyes.
Burma said he had injured himself while struggling with prison guards
trying to restrain him.
He told reporters life in prison had been difficult but he had always
expected to be freed within 18 months.
''Prison was hard, but physical conditions you can adapt to. It's the
mental thing of never being able to get truth. Everyone's so afraid just to
speak the truth, they have to think about everything,'' he said.
''I was relying on God for all my strength...so 14 months, no
problem.''
The surprise announcement earlier this week that Mr Mawdsley would be
freed, and the release of six elderly prisoners, have been interpreted as
attempts by Burma's military government to offer concessions in the face of
fierce international criticism.
But there has been no let-up in its crackdown on the NLD.
Ms Suu Kyi has been confined to her house, with her telephone cut and
diplomatic access barred, for almost a month. Other senior NLD leaders face
similar restrictions, and the party's vice chairman, U Tin Oo, is in
detention.
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook welcomed the release.
''James's only crime was to highlight the suppression of ethnic minorities
in Burma and to call for democratic change,'' he said.
Some Western diplomats in Rangoon suggested Burma's rulers may have
responded to pressure from other Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean)
members who have grown increasingly exasperated by the impact of world anger at
Burma on their hopes of expanding their trade and international influence.
A planned meeting of Asean and European Union foreign ministers in Laos in
December is under threat because of international anger at Burma's treatment of
Ms Suu Kyi.
The EU has boycotted ministerial meetings with Asean since Burma was
controversially admitted in 1997.
Diplomats said the release might also be linked to last week's visit to
Burma by United Nations special envoy Razali Ismail, who met ministers and also
held meetings with Ms Suu Kyi. |