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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Simon Jeffery

Jailed democracy campaigner flies home

Jailed British human rights activist Rachel Goldwyn arrived home from Burma today pledging to return to the country and keep up her pro-democracy fight.

Ms Goldwyn, from Barnes, south-west London, said she will carry out a research project into Burmese counter-narcotics but that the terms of her bail prevent her from criticising the hardline Myanmar government.

"I am still committed to a democracy, but I am now going to take on a dialogue role instead of a confrontational one," she said.

Ms Goldwyn was arrested on September 7 for chaining herself to a lamp-post and singing a pro-democracy song in the market in the capital, Rangoon.

She was sentenced to seven years with hard labour for "endangering peace, security and stability" before being transferred to the capital's notorious Insein Prison.

"Having carefully concealed my emotions since my arrest I sat alone in my cell and cried all night," she said.

"I had thought that I would be deported following the trial and was horrified when it became clear they meant me to serve my sentence."

The economics graduate from the London School of Economics was released on 1 November after her parents Ed and Charmian spent more than a month in the country pleading her case with the authorities.

Her release was followed by the surprise news that, rather than ordering her immediate deportation, the Burmese authorities had taken the family on a tour of the normally inhospitable north of the country.

Burma, officially renamed Myanmar, has been a target for pro-democracy campaigner since the military government crushed street protest in summer 1988 and put opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.

Human rights organisations maintain the present government uses forced labour for industrial projects and the construction of tourist resorts, and advocate the withdrawal of multinational capital from the Myanmar economy.

Useful links

George Soros's Burma project
ILO report into forced labour in Burma
Free Burma coalition
Global trade watch: Burma
Myanmar government pages
The Burma campaign UK
Destination Burma from Lonely planet.com

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