Burma: Comedian Zargana sentenced for 45 years in prison.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

PEN is stunned by the forty-five year prison sentence handed down on 21 November 2008 to poet and comedian Zargana in Burma. One of Burma’s most courageous defenders of the right to speak out against tyranny, Zargana is among a number of leading dissidents to have been sentenced in recent days in special courts held inside the notorious Insein prison for their peaceful opposition activities, many to staggeringly harsh sentences.

A major crackdown in Burma has been underway since early September 2007, following demonstrations led by monks and pro-democracy activists which began on 19 August 2007. Many of those who took part in these protests, including Zargana, poet Saw Wei and musician Win Maw have been sentenced in the past two weeks in what the BBC describes as ‘a judicial crackdown across the spectrum of Burma’s pro-democracy movement’.
(See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7741653.stm)

The current situation has escalated to crisis point and we ask that you join our writers and supporters around the world in raising awareness. You can help by writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper expressing alarm at events in Burma and highlighting Zargana’s case. You can help by sending letters of appeal to the rulers of Myanmar and the Burmese embassy protesting the harsh sentences and demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all those currently detained in Myanmar in violation of Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

To help you, our Writers in Prison Committee has drafted this letter that you can copy and paste to add your signature and send to the Myanmar Ambassador in Australia and also send to Senior General Than Shwe as detailed below.

Complete PEN statement: World Writers‘ Association ‘stunned’ by the sentencing of Burmese Poet and Comedian Zargana

Complete update on Zargana’s case: Myanmar – Zargana Update

Send your letters to:

Senior General Than Shwe
Chairman, State Peace and Development Council
c/o Ministry of Defence, Naypyitaw, Union of Myanmar
Salutation: Dear General

His Excellency Hla Myint,
Myanmar Ambassador to Australia,
Embassy of the Union of Myanmar,
22 Arkana Street,
Yarralumla, ACT 2600

Your actions do make a difference. In the first six months of this year 35 writers have been released from prison around the world as a result of PEN’s advocacy efforts. Please help us to help Zargana and other Burmese writers in detention.

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