Feb 20, 2010

Suu Kyi supporters jailed

Yangon - Myanmar has jailed four women activists for two years with hard labour, a lawyer said on Tuesday, as a UN special envoy was touring the country to inspect progress on human rights ahead of elections.

The four women were accused of causing public unrest and sentenced at a closed prison court on Monday in the former capital Yangon, said opposition party lawyer Kyaw Hoe.

"Naw Ohn Hla and another three women were sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labour," Kyaw Hoe told AFP.

"They were sentenced... for upsetting public peace and tranquillity. We will appeal for their release soon at the Yangon Divisional Court," he said.

The four women were arrested in October for donating literature to a high profile monastery in the eastern satellite town of Dagon.

Their arrest came four days after detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi discovered her appeal against the extension of her house arrest had been rejected and as supporters gathered to pray for her release.

UN envoy visiting Myanmar

UN special envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana is visiting Myanmar's western border on the second day of a five-day human rights inspection ahead of elections promised this year, the first in Myanmar for two decades.

On Monday, the Argentinean envoy met judges and opposition lawyers in the former capital Yangon.

Last week the regime jailed a US activist, but two days later freed Suu Kyi's deputy, 83-year-old Tin Oo, who immediately called for more than 2 100 other political prisoners to be freed.

Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi has been detained for most of the last two decades. Her National League for Democracy party won elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.

Quintana is due to return to Yangon on Thursday to visit the notorious Insein prison, where many dissidents are held, but does not yet know if he will be allowed to see Suu Kyi.

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