Senator wins release of US prisoner in Myanmar။
The Associated Press
Saturday, August 15, 2009; 10:17 AM
YANGON, Myanmar -- U.S. Sen. Jim Webb won the release Saturday of an American prisoner convicted in Myanmar and sentenced to seven years in prison for swimming secretly to the residence of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the senator's office said.
Yettaw, 53, is to be officially deported Sunday, when he will fly with Webb on a military plane to Bangkok, according to a statement from Webb's office.
Before his conviction on Tuesday, Yettaw had spent a week in a prison hospital for epileptic seizures. He is also said to suffer from asthma and diabetes.
During Webb's visit to Myanmar - the first by a member of the U.S. Congress in more than a decade - the senator also secured a rare visit with Suu Kyi, who was convicted along with Yettaw and sentenced to 18 more months under house arrest. She has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years.
The junta may have approved the meeting with Suu Kyi to mitigate the torrent of international criticism against Myanmar following the trial and Tuesday's verdict. In July, authorities barred U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon from meeting with Suu Kyi during a two-day visit.
Webb, the statement said, requested that Suu Kyi be released during a meeting with junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe on Saturday. It was the first time the reclusive general had met with a senior U.S. official.
"It is my hope that we can take advantage of these gestures as a way to begin laying the foundations of goodwill and confidence building in the future," Webb was quoted as saying.
On Saturday, the 64-year-old Nobel Peace laureate was driven from her residence to a nearby government guest house for a 40-minute meeting with Webb, then reporters saw her taken home by car.
Webb, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee, described the meeting as "an opportunity ... to convey my deep respect to Aung San Suu Kyi for the sacrifices she has made on behalf of democracy around the world."
The senator, who arrived in Myanmar's capital of Naypyitaw on Friday, was scheduled to address reporters in Yangon on Sunday.
The visit - particularly the meetings with senior officials and Suu Kyi - was unusual because of the poor state of relations between Myanmar, also known as Burma, and the U.S. Many critics said it was bad timing for outreach - only days after the junta flouted international appeals that Suu Kyi be cleared of the latest charges. It also drew criticism from activists who say it confers legitimacy on a brutal regime.
While Washington has traditionally been Myanmar's strongest critic, applying political and economic sanctions against the junta, President Barack Obama's new ambassador for East Asia, Kurt Campbell, recently said the administration is interested in easing its policy of isolation. Webb has said that "affirmative engagement" could bring the most change to Myanmar, concerning those who think a hard line is the best approach.
