Burma expels two American journalists

by Mizzima News
Tuesday, 12 May 2009 19:53

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Burma’s military government has expelled two American journalists who were teaching feature writing and photography to students in the country’s second largest city of Mandalay.

Jerry Redfern and Karen Coates on Monday said they were arrested on the evening of May 6 at their hotel room in Mandalay and were taken to Rangoon on a train and deported to Bangkok the following day.

In a statement, the two journalists admitted teaching Burmese students non-fiction feature writing and photography, under an arrangement facilitated by the American Center in Rangoon and approved by the Burma's Press Scrutiny Board.

“We were arrested at our hotel after dinner on May 6… They said they had received the arrest order from Naypyitaw half an hour after our last class and lecture had ended,” the two said in a statement released from Bangkok.

The two said Immigration officials came into their hotel lobby on the evening of May 6 and ordered them to pack their belongings. They were eventually escorted out of town by two officials on an evening train.

The officials who came to arrest them gave no reasons for their arrest and seemed possibly unaware of any specifics regarding the order, the two speculated.

“They did not give a reason for the arrest. Many said they did not know why we were arrested. They asked us nothing, told us nothing, searched nothing, took nothing. We were not mistreated or manhandled,” the two said.

The two American journalists said they have been teaching creative non-fiction feature writing and photography in Burma under a program approved by the Press Scrutiny Board and the Special Branch (police).

“We are heartbroken to think we might not be able to return to Burma. But that is trivial to how we worry about the safety of the people who helped us on these trips,” the two said.

While the two said they are unaware of the possible reason for their deportation, in their statement they brushed-off rumors of them being agents of the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

They also dismissed allegations that they were meeting Buddhist monks in monasteries and meeting politically sensitive people including the famous comedians in Mandalay – the Moustache Brothers – who are known for their satirical jokes against the ruling junta.

But they said their arrest and deportation could be a fall-out from the recent actions of another American citizen, whom they do not know or have connections with, who was arrested for swimming across Inya Lake and meeting detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Burmese authorities so far have not made public news about the arrest and deportation.

The American Center in Rangoon, meanwhile, on Tuesday refused to comment on the incident.