posted news from scb 17-8(2)

[OKKAR66129@xxxxxxx]

Subject:	Detained Foreigners Systematically Handed Over to Respective
Embassies
>From:	Thinzar Khine <Thinzar@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date:	Mon, 17 Aug 1998 12:44:20 +0200


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 Detained Foreigners Systematically Handed Over to Respective Embassies
                                ---------

Eighteen foreigners who distributed instigative leaflets at busy places
on 9 August morning
with the aim of creating public commotion, were put on trial in accord
with the laws at the
court of Insein Township on 14 August, and the court handed down
sentences.

The arrested foreigners, while being questioned in accord with the laws,
were looked after
properly.

They were charged with distributing instigative leaflets with the
intention of disrupting peace
and tranquillity of Myanmar and creating civil unrest in contravention
of Section 5 (e) of the
Emergency Provisions Act, 1950, and tried at the special court of Insein
Township on 14
August.

The court handed down five years? imprisonment to each on conviction
that they had violated
the existing law of Myanmar.

Under Section 401 (a) of the Criminal Procedural Law, the punishments
handed down on them
were suspended, and the Ministry of Home Affairs passed a decision for
them to leave here on
15 August in consideration of the fact:

        1)    that most of them were from neighbouring nations, members
of ASEAN,

        2)    that their countries and Myanmar are on an existing
friendly terms,

        3)    that they had not had any knowledge of Myanmar,

        4)    that they had been organized and deceived into committing
crime by Alternative
              Asean Network on Burma and,

        5)    that they confessed to having committed the offence and
requests were made by
               their families and officials of respective governments.

Foreigners were transferred to their respective embassies.

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