26 April 2016•Update: 28 April 2016
By Kyaw Ye Lynn
YANGON, Myanmar
A Myanmar court on Tuesday sentenced an activist monk who rose to prominence during the 2007 anti-junta uprising to six months in prison with hard labor for illegally crossing the country’s border with Thailand.
Nyi Nyi Lwin, better known as Gambira, was arrested in Mandalay in January under section 13(a) of the Burma Immigration (Emergency Provisions) Act of 1947, which concerns illegal entry by foreigners.
Gambira's elder sister Ma Lwin told Anadolu Agency by phone that she doesn’t understand why he was arrested and jailed under such ridiculous charge.
“He entered the country by an official crossing on the border to apply for a passport,” she said. “I don’t understand why he was jailed as other political prisoners have been released from jail."
The country's new government released scores of political prisoners and activists from detention weeks after it took power March 31.
“Is he not political activist anymore?” asked Ma Lwin.
On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged authorities to drop charges against Gambira.
“Burmese authorities should drop this trumped-up case against U Gambira, who is being targeted for his prominent role in opposing military dictatorships,” said Phil Robertson, HRW’s deputy Asia director.
“U Gambira suffered terribly under the military junta and he should not have to suffer further by spending even one more day in prison.”
Gambira was a prominent leader in the 2007 uprising, for which he was jailed for 63 years.
He was freed from prison, however, during a 2012 general amnesty, a year after the junta handed power to a semi-civilian government following 49 years of direct rule of the Southeast Asian nation.
For his latest sentence, he is likely to be released soon because of time already served.
