Yikes. This news story is another very grim reminder of how tenuous the freedom of speech is in the world. This is sad.
An internet blogger and a writer who disguised an attack on Burma’s dictator in the form of a love poem were among dozens of activists sentenced to draconian jail terms as the junta ordered a fresh crackdown on dissidents.
Nay Myo Kyaw, 28, who wrote blogs under the name Nay Phone Latt, was sentenced to 20 years and 6 months in jail by a court in Rangoon. The poet, Saw Wai, received a two-year sentence for an eight-line Valentine’s Day verse published in a popular magazine.
Aung Thein, the lawyer for the men, was given four months in prison on Monday for contempt of court during his defence.
More than a dozen people arrested during the protests last year against the ruling junta were handed harsh prison terms yesterday. “Altogether 23 activists were sentenced today at Insein prison. They were sentenced to 65 years each,” a family member of one jailed activist said.
This is horribly unjust.
As well as crimes against public tranquillity Mr Nay Phone Latt was charged with offences under video and electronics laws. “I was expecting him to get 10 or 12 years in prison at the most,” Aye Aye Than, his mother, said. “I never imagined he would get this much. The authorities have been excessively cruel with him.”
She was not allowed to attend the closed hearing in Insein prison, a British colonial structure in northwest Rangoon where Burmese political prisoners are held.
Bo Kyi, of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Burmese exile group in Thailand, said: “There is no possibility of justice through these proceedings.”
Even 10-12 years in prison is inexcusable. But SIXTY-FIVE YEARS?! And Burmese prisons aren’t cakewalks, either.
Hold on to your freedoms where you have them, people. It’s so easy for the tyrants to take them away…
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