ASIA: Burma opposition leaders get long jail terms: relatives
16 Nov 2008 12:21 AM
RANGOON, Nov 15 AFP - One of Burma's most prominent activists was sentenced to 65 years' jail along with two other pro-democracy leaders in connection with anti-junta protests last year, family members said on Saturday.
Min Ko Naing is considered Burma's top activist after detained Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and was a founder member of an opposition group that emerged from a failed student-led uprising in 1988.
Relatives said it had emerged that he was among 23 members of the so-called88 Generation who received heavy jail terms on Tuesday at the notorious Insein prison on the outskirts of Rangoon.
Leading activists Ko Ko Gyi and Htay Kywe were in the same batch sentenced by a closed court at the prison, family members said after visiting them in jail on Saturday.
"We got a chance to see them in Insein prison this afternoon," a family member told AFP, adding they had been found guilty of violating the ElectronicAct and for contempt of court.
Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi spent up to 15 years in jail as what Amnesty International described as "prisoners of conscience" for their roles in the 1988 uprising.
"I feel really sorry for them as they have already served at least a decadein prison so now they have to stay there for most of their lifetime," the family member said.
Separately, a female journalist arrested while reporting on Cyclone Nargis in May, Ein Khaing Oo, was sentenced to two years in jail while a male colleague received seven years, legal sources said. More than 139,000 people were left dead or missing after Nargis struck.
Courts in Burma in the past week jailed between 60 and 70 people over last year's protests against the military regime, which were followed by a crackdown the United Nations said left at least 31 people dead.
They include a prominent blogger, a poet, nine monks, and at least 28 members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.
Rights groups have accused the generals of trying to curb dissent ahead of elections in 2010.
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