PHILIPPINES: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS PROTEST AT MYANMAR EMBASSY

Описание: (12 Aug 1998) Eng/Taga/Nat
Human rights activists staged a protest outside the Myanmar Embassy in Manila on Tuesday to denounce the arrest of 18 foreign nationals in Yangon.
The detainees, who include two Filipinos, were arrested on Sunday for distributing leaflets urging people to remember the uprising against military rule ten years ago.
Around 3-thousand people died during the uprising in 1988, which though it led to a change in leadership was eventually crushed.
30 human rights activists showed their support for the 18 foreigners
held in Myanmar.
And the relatives of Ponciano Resuena, one of the Filipinos arrested on Sunday, joined the demands for their immediate release.
The arrests in Yangon came after the group had try to distribute leaflets which the Myanmar government said incited unrest.
The detainees include six Americans, three Thais, three Malaysians, three Indonesians, and an Australian.
Authorities in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, say the 18 are being interrogated to find out whether they should be charged with any crime.
The government says the activists broke laws, including a printing act and an emergency law that can carry a 10-year sentence and is frequently used against political opponents.
Thirty-three year-old Ponciano Resuena's wife Cynthia has appealed to the Myanmar government for his release.
SOUNDBITE: (Tagalog)
"We just want them (Myanmar Embassy officials) to help so that we see him (Ponciano "Sonny" Resuena) and have him released because he did not do anything wrong, as well as his companions."
SUPER CAPTION: Cynthia Resuena, Wife of detained Filipino Ponciano Resuena
Cynthia Resuena and her mother-in-law tried to seek an audience with the Myanmar Ambassador, but they were barred from entering the Embassy office.
Ponciano Resuena's mother spoke of her concerns for her son.
SOUNDBITE: (Tagalog)
"As a parent, I am nervous because I am afraid that I don't know what will happen to him because he is in another country. If it's a very big problem to face a similar situation here in the Philippines, what more if he is overseas, when you cannot even visit him? You do not know what is happening, because I think the government there is worse now."
SUPER CAPTION: Leticia Resuena, Mother of detained Filipino
Ponciano Resuena
Carrying placards demanding the release of the detainees, the
protesters called on the government of Myanmar to respect human rights.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We want to know first and foremost is, the whereabouts, the security, if they are safe, and if how are they doing. Of course, the most immediate is the immediate release of all the detained foreign nationals, most especially to Ellen Sana and Ponciano Resuena."
SUPER CAPTION: Merci Ferrer, Free Burma Coalition
Diplomats who were allowed to see the detainees in Yangon on Tuesday said they were faring well.
The 18 activists entered Myanmar as tourists on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the August 8, 1988, uprising.
The ruling State Peace and Development Council denies it has already decided to charge and try the activists, saying no ruling has yet been made.
It said deporting the activists was still an option.

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