Sentenced to Prison for Praying

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Aung San Suu Kyi

The repressive tactics of Burma’s military junta have gone so far that people can now go to jail for simply praying. Two supporters of imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi were sentenced last week to 18 months in prison after leading others in prayer for the release of Suu Kyi. The human rights activist has spent the last six years, and more than 13 of the last 20 years, in detention, mostly under house arrest, although in May she was jailed in Rangoon’s Insein prison after an American unexpectedly visited Suu Kyi without approval from the government.

 
The two supporters of Suu Kyi, Chit Pe and Aung Soe Wei, were found guilty of “insulting religion” under a law resurrected in 2007. The government has used the law to jail monks demonstrating against the junta and to prosecute political cases.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
 

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