Woman Activist Jailed in Rangoon

By MIN LWIN

Accused of illegally handling foreign currency, Khin Moe Aye, 40, a prominent social and political activist, was sentenced to three years imprisonment, along with former student leader Kyaw Soe, at Rangoon’s Insein prison court on Thursday, according to her lawyer, Khin Maung Shein.

Former political prisoners Khin Moe Aye and Kyaw Soe were arrested by military intelligence officers in Kyaikto Township in Rangoon’s northeastern suburbs on December 12.

Khin Moe Aye has been imprisoned by the military junta three times before. Her first arrest was in 1990 when she was jailed for one or two months. She was rearrested in December 1991 for her role in leading student demonstrations in honor of Aung San Suu Kyi winning the Nobel Peace Prize. She was sentenced to 10 years in jail, but was released in May 1992.

While continuing her pro-democracy activities, she was arrested again in February 1998 and was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for assisting an author, Aung Tun, in documenting a history of the Burmese student movement. She was released on May 4, 2003.

In recent times, Khin Moe Aye has worked to provide aid, food and education to orphaned children and has founded an orphanage in Rangoon.

Tate Naing, secretary of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), told The Irrawaddy on Friday that Khin Moe Aye actively participated in the 1988 popular uprising as a student leader of Rangoon University’s student union and was an active member of the All Burma Federation of Students Unions.

“She was often pressured by the military authorities for her involvement in social and political activities,” he said.