Hefty jail terms for Myanmar labour activists

YANGON, (AFP) Six labour activists in military-run Myanmar have been sentenced to up to 28 years in prison for organising a seminar at a US Embassy centre here, a defence lawyer said Saturday.

Four were former members of Myanmar's opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), headed by detained democracy leader and Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

"They received jail terms yesterday at a Western district court for sedition and organising an unlawful gathering," lawyer Aung Thein, an NLD member, told AFP.

The six activists, all men in their mid-20s and early 30s, planned to hold a labour rights seminar with some 50 workers at the US Embassy's American Centre in Yangon in May.

Only three of the activists - Wai Lin, Kyaw Kyaw and Nyi Nyi Zaw - were able to show up. Police immediately arrested them after the seminar, which was attended by only a few other participants, the lawyer said.

The remaining three activists were arrested separately. Thurein Aung was detained on his way to the seminar, while Myo Min and Kyaw Min were later arrested in the eastern Karen state.

Thurein Aung, Wai Lin, Myo Min and Kyaw Min were sentenced to 28 years in prison, while Kyaw Kyaw and Nyi Nyi Zaw each received a 20-year jail term. The US Embassy in Yangon could not be reached for comment.

Myanmar's military, which has ruled with an iron fist for 45 years, does not tolerate even the slightest show of public dissent.

Its recent crackdown on a rare string of protests against a massive hike in fuel prices has sparked global condemnation, with US President George W. Bush accusing Myanmar's generals of "tyrannical" behaviour in their clampdown.