Myanmar court jails interfaith activists

A Myanmar court has sentenced three Muslim and Hindu interfaith activists to two years with hard labour, their lawyer said Monday, after activists raised fears over a campaign against them by Buddhist nationalists.

The two men and one woman from the central city of Mandalay were arrested in July 2015 and accused of crossing Myanmar's frontier with India after they posted pictures of themselves at the border on social media, according to Thein Than Oo, a lawyer representing two of the defendants. 

"Zaw Zaw Latt, Pwint Phyu Latt and Zaw Win Bo were sentenced two years with hard labour" under the immigration act at Mandalay's Chan Aye Tharzan court on Friday, he told AFP. 

"I think it's too harsh," he added.

He said Zaw Zaw Latt and Pwint Phyu Latt, both Muslims, will face a further trial on March 3, accused under the unlawful associations act for a separate visit into the territory of ethnic minority rebels in northern Kachin state.

Fortify Rights has slammed the trial as "politically motivated" and called for the release of the three, who are all members of a Mandalay-based interfaith peace network.

In a statement earlier this month the watchdog said the arrests came after a campaign against Zaw Zaw Latt on social media and in a journal linked to the Buddhist nationalist monk movement Ma Ba Tha, whose anti-Muslim rhetoric has gained in influence in recent years.

Myanmar has earned plaudits internationally for sweeping reforms since the end of junta rule in 2011, including a political opening that enabled Aung San Suu Kyi to lead her National League for Democracy to victory in November elections. Her party is due to form a government in April.

But campaigners have warned that some freedoms have been rolled back, with several activists detained for Facebook posts satirising the army in recent months.

Myanmar has suffered sporadic bouts of religious bloodshed since 2012, mainly aimed at Muslims who were also marginalised in last year's election campaign, with even Suu Kyi's party failing to put forward a single candidate from the minority group.