Burmese activists, bloggers get stiff jail terms

The sentences were handed down to the 14 activists, all well-known members of the 88 Generation Students Group, at 1 pm in Insein Prison Special Court, said the Assistance Association for Political Prionsers.   

Among those sentenced were the group's leader Mie Mie and her husband Jimmy, Min Zayya, Zaw Zaw Min, Than Tin, Zayya, Ant Bwe Kyaw, Kyaw Kyaw Htwe, Marky, Pannate Tun, Thet Zaw,  Mar Mar Oo, Sandar Min and Thet Thet Aung. The 88 Generation Students Group is an activist group established during 1988 anti-government demonstrations.

Family members were not allowed to attend the hearing.

In a separate hearing held in Insein prison special court Tuesday, labour activist Su Su Nwe was sentenced to 12 years and 6 months in prison.

All 15 defendants played a key role in the anti-government protests of August and September last year that were eventually taken up by Myanmar's Buddhist monks.    

On Monday, the same prison court sentenced popular blogger Nay Myo Kyaw, who was better known by his blogger alias Nay Phone Latt, to 20 years and six months in jail.

"He was sentenced to two years under section 505(b) of the Penal Code, three and half years under sections 32(b)/36 of the Video Act  and 15 years under section 33(a)/38 of the Electronic Communication Act," said a close friend of Nay Myo Kyaw's who asked to remain anonymous. 

Nay Myo Kyaw, a youth member of the opposition National League for Democracy and owner of several internet cafes in Rangoon, was arrested on January 29, just three months after the so-called Saffron Revolution led by Buddhist monks in the former capital.

The weeks of monks-led protests ended in a brutal military crackdown in September 2007, that left more than 30 dead, hundreds missing and thousands in prison. 

Nay Myo Kyaw ran his own blog that often featured the hardships suffered by the Myanmar population, who have been under military rule since 1962.   

"A person can be only imprisoned, but not the spirit," some of his friends wrote in a message on his blog, http://nayphonelatt.blogspot.com/ just after his imprisonment.