The Burmese Junta's Incarcerating Machine

The Burmese Junta's behavior has gone from irrational to bizarre to Kafkaesque. In a country mercilessly punished by decades of military dictatorship and more recently by a devastating cyclone, the most in-demand buildings are jails.

The latest victim of this prison state is comedian Zarganar, who today was sentenced to 45 years in prison for alleged violations of the Electronics Act.

Zarganar (right) was supportive of the Saffron Revolution,
the uprising against the Junta led by 30,000 Buddhists monks
that ended in a bloody crackdown by the government.
(Photo EPA)

Zarganar, whose real name is Maung Thura, was arrested in June after leading efforts to deliver supplies to victims of Cyclone Nargis, which struck his country on May 2. He had been critical of the dismal government response to the human catastrophe that ensued after the storm hit.

The BBC:

More than 100 activists have been sentenced over the past two weeks in a judicial crackdown across the spectrum of Burma's pro-democracy movement.

Some people have been sentenced to terms as long as 65 years. Many took part in protests against the ruling junta sparked by fuel and food price rises in August 2007.

Zarganar led a group of entertainers who organised private aid deliveries to victims of Cyclone Nargis, which hit in May.

An outspoken satirist of the military government, Zarganar had already been arrested and jailed four times before he was taken from his home again by the authorities in June.

The BBC's South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head says the sentence passed down on the comedian seems staggeringly severe: 45 years in prison, and he still faces further charges.

However, our correspondent says, it fits the pattern of other sentences given to more than 100 other dissidents over the past two weeks.

Interesting Times has reported on those abusive sentences here, here and here.