|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Myanmar court dismisses appeal by
Briton
Financial Times - Myanmar court dismisses appeal
by Briton
Asiagateway - Lee Kuan Yew Criticizes
Mahatir
Xinhua - New Antimony Plant Goes Into Production
in Myanmar
Bkk Post - Inbrief - Factory raids
BBC - Briton loses Burma appeal
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BURMA RELATED NEWS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WIRE:08/19/2000 03:32:00 ET
Myanmar court dismisses appeal by Briton YANGON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - A
court in Myanmar has dismissed another appeal to pardon British-Australian
activist James Mawdsley, sentenced to 17 years in jail in 1999 for distributing
anti-government leaflets, his lawyer said on Saturday. "I"ve just heard Mandalay
High Court on August 15 dismissed the appeal for pardon I made for Mr Mawdsley,"
U Kyi Win told Reuters. "It was the second time within two months that we tried
to ask for pardon. The first appeal was made at Tachileck District Court on June
15 and it was turned down on the same day." Asked about further action, he said:
"It depends on the client and on the British embassy. I still have to wait until
I hear from them." Myanmar officials have said there is little chance of
clemency for Mawdsley, as he had already been pardoned twice after earlier
offences. Mawdsley was arrested for the third time in Myanmar with
anti-government leaflets in Tachileck, a city on the Thai-Myanmar border, on
August 31, 1999. He was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment on September 1, 1999.
A British embassy official said the embassy was in regular contact with
Mawdsley.
Financial Times
Myanmar court dismisses appeal by Briton 19 Aug 2000 11:02GMT YANGON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - A court in Myanmar has dismissed another appeal to pardon British-Australian activist James Mawdsley, sentenced to 17 years in jail in 1999 for distributing anti-government leaflets, his lawyer said on Saturday. I've just heard Mandalay High Court on August 15 dismissed the appeal for
pardon I made for Mr Mawdsley, U Kyi Win told Reuters.
It was the second time within two months that we tried to ask for pardon.
The first appeal was made at Tachileck District Court on June 15 and it was
turned down on the same day.
Asked about further action, he said: It depends on the client and on the
British embassy. I still have to wait until I hear from them.
Myanmar officials have said there is little chance of clemency for
Mawdsley, as he had already been pardoned twice after earlier offences.
Mawdsley was arrested for the third time in Myanmar with anti-government
leaflets in Tachileck, a city on the Thai-Myanmar border, on August 31, 1999.
He was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment on September 1, 1999.
A British embassy official said the embassy was in regular contact with
Mawdsley.
Asiagateway
Lee Kuan Yew Criticizes
Mahatir
August 18, 2000 Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's senior statesman, during his first visit to Malaysia in 10 years, has spoken bluntly about Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahatir Mohammed's handling of the dismissal and detention of his one-time deputy Anwar Ibrahim, commenting Mahatir committed serious mistakes. Anwar was sentenced last week to nine years in prison after being convicted of sodomy, a term he will begin after finishing the six years he is serving for corruption. He insists he is the innocent victim of a conspiracy to prevent him challenging 74-year-old Dr. Mahatir. Mr. Lee said that among his several blunders, Dr. Mahatir had allowed Mr. Anwar to be detained under the Internal Security Act rather than just on criminal charges. As well, Dr. Mahatir had failed to set up an immediate commission of inquiry into the beating Mr Anwar received shortly after his arrest. Mr. Lee declared that the case was an unmitigated disaster and he felt sorrier for Dr. Mahatir than he felt for Anwar, since Dr. Mahatir had paid a very heavy price by making several errors of judgment. New Antimony Plant Goes Into Production
in Myanmar
YANGON (Aug. 19) XINHUA - An
antimony concentrate plant in Myanmar's southern Shan state, originally owned by
the state and was privatized in last November, went into production Friday after
it was upgraded, official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported
Saturday.
Taken over by the Myanmar Mayflower Mining Company under the country's privatization scheme, the antimony concentrate plant will produce 4,500 tons of antimony ores annually. The new plant was built beginning March this year and completed in
May.
Myanmar's mining sector is growing by 19 percent every year. However its
contribution to the gross domestic product is rather small.
In Myanmar, over 11 percent of the mining sector is owned by the state and
over 86 percent by the private sector.
Besides engagement in the mining sector by local private entrepreneurs,
there is also foreign investment in the development of the sector.
According to official statistics, about a dozen foreign firms, including
those from Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore Thailand and the
United States, are engaged in prospecting and exploration of mineral resources
as well as feasibility study in Myanmar since the country enacted the New Mining
Law in 1994.
The statistics also show that foreign investment in Myanmar's mining sector
so far amounted to 522.24 million U.S. dollars in 49 projects.
Bangkok Post - Aug 19,
2000.
Inbrief - Factory
raids
Mae Sot-More than 400 Burmese have been arrested in dawn raids on garment factories. Some 200 border patrol police raided 19 factories in Mae Sot district, near the Burmese border. The arrests were made at three factories. Another 16 suspect factories were found closed. BBC - Saturday, 19 August, 2000, 15:00
GMT 16:00 UK
Briton loses Burma appeal A British man jailed for 17 years in Burma for distributing pro-democracy
leaflets has lost his appeal against the sentence.
James Mawdsley, 27, of Lancashire, was jailed last September after being arrested in the north eastern city of Tachilek. His lawyers took his appeal to a high court in Mandalay after losing an
earlier challenge against the length of his sentence at a local court.
But a Foreign Office spokesman said on Saturday that they had heard from "a
reasonably reliable source" that the appeal had been dismissed.
"Although we have not heard from his lawyer, we have heard through
reasonably reliable sources in Rangoon that his case has been dismissed," the
spokesman said.
"That is what appears to have happened," he added.
Mr Mawdsley's parents hit out at the news.
David Mawdsley was highly critical of the Burmese regime.
"Everything has to come from the top," he said. "They are very cruel people
and this is what James is trying to draw attention to."
James' mother, Diana, who is separated from her husband, said she was glad
at least to know about the latest development.
"The case against James could not possibly stand up in any decently ordered
society," Mrs Mawdsley said.
Solitary confinement
"If it is true, this is the end of the legal side. There is no independent
legal body," she added.
But Mr Mawdsley was confident that the legal battle was not over.
He said Lord Daniel Brennan QC was prepared to take on his son's case.
"Lord Brennan has represented people abroad before - he understands the
total injustice of James' situation and has volunteered his services," Mr
Mawdsley said.
James Mawdsley has spent most of his sentence in solitary confinement.
He had already been arrested and deported from Burma twice before.
Mr Mawdsley first travelled to Burma in 1996, and became involved in the
country's pro-democracy campaign when government-backed forces burned down the
school where he was teaching English.
Hunger strike
He was deported in September 1997 after handcuffing himself to railings
outside a Rangoon school and chanting anti-government slogans.
In May 1998, he was jailed for five years for illegally entering the
country.
But he was released after serving 98 days at Rangoon's notorious Insein
Prison, following appeals by embassies and his parents.
He is serving his sentence in the remote north eastern town of Keng Tung,
390 miles north east of Rangoon.
He has gone on hunger strike twice to protest against the treatment of
human rights activists. |