Britain, Canada Leads Protests and su su nway in jail for years

Rammell called for the release of all political detainees, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The election planned for 2010 would not be free unless political prisoners were released, he said.“There can be nothing approaching free elections until these steps are taken,” Rammell declared. The 39 dissidents, including 88 Generation Students activists, monks and prominent labor activist Su Su Nway were sentenced to long prison terms by the Insein Prison court on Tuesday. Fourteen of the accused received sentences of 65 years.Canada’s Foreign Minister, Lawrence Cannon, said: “Canada is deeply concerned to learn that 14 members of the 88 Generation Students group have each been sentenced to 65 years’ imprisonment.” Cannon declared: "We continue to urge the regime to begin a genuine dialogue with the democratic opposition and ethnic minorities in order to foster a political process leading to the full restoration of democracy." London-based Amnesty International said the prison sentences passed by the court were a powerful reminder that the Burmese regime is neglecting calls by the international community to clean up its human rights record. Benjamin Zawacki, an Amnesty International Burma’s researcher, said: “Even as the government continues to claim that its new constitution and plans for elections in 2010 are genuine efforts toward increasing political participation, this sentencing sends a clear signal that it will not tolerate views contrary to its own by handing down such severe sentences.” Amnesty International says there are more than 2,100 political prisoners in Burma.The London-based Burma Campaign-UK urged the UN to take action on behalf of the 14 convicted members of the 88 Generation Students group. “If they are forced to serve their full terms, they will die in jail,” the organization said in a statement.
The organization’s Campaigns Officer, Nang Seng, said that by imprisoning the dissidents the regime was defying a call by the UN Security Council in October to free political prisoners.Burmese lawyer Thein Nyunt, a member of the opposition National League for Democracy’s information department, said the “huge punishments” were apparently an act of revenge against the political activists. The sentences were “inappropriate,” he said.Thakin Chan Htun, a Burmese veteran politician, agreed and said the sentences conflicted with the rule of law in Burma. Although the sentences were intended to “threaten people,” they hurt the regime’s image. “Not only the Burmese people but also the world will see it as fascism. It is likely that they portrayed themselves as a fascist government.” An ethnic Chin politician, Cin Sian Thang, Chairman of the Zomi National Congress in Rangoon, described the sentences as “terrible…It doesn’t lead in the direction of democracy,” he said. Cin Sian Than also said that the severe punishments were part of the preparation for the general election planned for 2010.

Myanmar labour activist jailed for 12 years
Su Su Nway, 36, and her colleague Bo Bo Win Naing were arrested in November last year for putting up anti-government posters, weeks after massive demonstrations were suppressed by the junta.
The charges against the labour activist -- who had gone into hiding after taking part in August and September protests -- included inciting unrest and participating in an anti-government movement.
"She was sentenced to 12-and-a-half years imprisonment at Insein Prison yesterday (Tuesday)," her lawyer Khin Htay Kywe told AFP.
Su Su Nway also spent time in detention earlier in 2007 for leading a prayer vigil seeking the release of democracy icon and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Bo Bo Win Naing was handed an eight-year jail term on similar charges, said Khin Htay Kywe, who is also a member of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
Dozens of pro-democracy activists were given hefty jail terms this week, including a blogger sentenced to 20 years on Monday and a poet who penned a coded message against junta head Than Shwe, who got two years.
A relative of a jailed activist said that 23 people were convicted on Tuesday, although Khin Htay Kywe said that number could be higher.
"About 30 people including student activists were sentenced yesterday at Insein Prison. Most of them were sentenced for 65 years, and the rest also got long terms of imprisonment," she said.
Details were still emerging about the charges, but they are believed to include violating the electronics act in Myanmar -- where Internet use is heavily policed -- and inciting unrest.
Small protests in Yangon in August 2007 against the rising cost of living escalated into the biggest challenge to junta rule in nearly two decades.
The army responded with a bloody crackdown in September, during which at least 31 people were killed while 74 remain missing, according to the United Nations.
Hundreds of activists were arrested after the protests, taking the number of political prisoners locked away in Myanmar to about 2,000, rights group say.
The most well-known is Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the past two decades under house arrest, despite leading her NLD to an election victory in 1990, which was never recognised by the ruling generals.