Burma News (11.2.08)

by Danny Fisher

Here’s the pertinent Burma news for today:

  • The Associated Press reports that nine leaders from the pro-democracy 88 Generations Students group have been sentenced to six months in prison “for interrupting a judge during a closed trial held inside a prison.”
  • The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Burma’s controversial new constitution has been translated into English. The Times explains:
      The constitution, drafted under the junta’s influence without input from the pro-democracy movement, was passed by a national referendum in May.

      The junta said it received the backing of 92.48 percent of voters. But Myanmar’s main opposition party charged that the authorities used coercion, intimidation, deception and misrepresentation to get voters’ approval.

      Critics say the constitution is designed to maintain the military’s decades-old grip on power.