- James Mawdsley
James Rupert Russell Mawdsley is a
human rights activist campaigning for democracy inBurma . He is a dual citizen of theUnited Kingdom andAustralia .Mawdsley was arrested several times for his involvement and deported three times. He spent over a year in a prison in Myanmar during 2000 and 2001, as part of a seventeen year jail sentence, after taking part in pro-democracy protests in
Rangoon .His imprisonment was held to be arbitrary by the U.N.
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2001. Mawdsley was released from jail in 2001 after pressure was exerted by the United Kingdom Foreign Office on the authorities inMyanmar . The SPDC tried to impose conditions on his release, for example that he would never return, but Mawdsley refused to sign the document or agree to any of the SPDC's conditions as the SPDC are not sovereign in Burma.In February 2003 he co-authored "New Ground" with
Benedict Rogers , a pamphlet advocating foreign policy based around freedom, dignity and the rule of law. This document has helped give rise to the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, founded in 2005.In the UK 2005 general election, he unsuccessfully contested the Hyndburn constituency for the Conservative Party.
He wrote "The Heart Must Break: the Fight for Democracy and Truth in Burma", published in the US as "The Iron Road: A Stand for Truth and Democracy in Burma" by North Point Press in 2002.
Resources
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/435356.stm British activist jailed in Burma]
External links
* [http://eccematertua.blogspot.com/ James Mawdsley's blog "Ecce Mater Tua"]
* [http://www.conservativehumanrights.com Conservative Party Human Rights Commission]
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