MYANMAR : Law Cracks Down on Dissident’s Activism

The military government escalated its confrontation with Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, decreeing heavy new penalties for disturbing the public order. Suu Kyi, who speaks each weekend before large groups of pro-democracy followers outside the gates of her Yangon home, appeared to be the immediate target of the decree. The law calls for prison sentences of five to 20 years for any individual or group that makes or distributes statements “in order to undermine the stability of the state.”