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In the summer of 2007, thousands of people in Burma took to the street to peacefully protest the military junta's decision to raise fuel prices.  The protests were led by students, Buddhist monks, and other activists.  On September 26, 2007, the regime cracked down on the protesters, raiding pagodas and beating and killing demonstrators. 

Many of the protest organizers, as well as bloggers, actors, and poets who wrote about the events, have been detained since then. During the month of November 2008, at least 215 human rights defenders and other activists were sentenced to prison terms as long as 68 years following sham judicial proceedings. 

Those sentenced include:

• Nilar Thein and her husband Kyaw Min Yu (also known as Jimmy), both members of the 88 Generation Students Group, sentenced to 65 years and transferred to separate prisons far from their young child;
• U Myint Aye, Zaw Zaw Aung, and Yan Shwe of the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters network, sentenced to life imprisonment;
• Zarganar, a famous comedian with a long history of social activism and human rights work, sentenced to 59 years for criticizing the government's response to Cyclone Nargis;
• All Burma Monks' Alliance leader U Gambira, sentenced to 68 years in prison;
• Blogger Nay Phone Latt, a significant source of information to the international community during the protests, sentenced to 20 years and six months; and
• Lawyers U Khin Maung Shein and U Aung Thein, charged with contempt of court and sentenced to four-month prison terms after serving as defense lawyers for U Gambira, Zarganar, and more than 100 others.

Lengthy detentions are nothing new in Burma, where the junta, known as the State Peace and Development Council, holds more than 2,000 political prisoners. But the large number of convictions in just a few weeks, the excessive sentences, and the transfer of at least 136 prisoners to Burma's remotest prisons indicate a systematic effort to crush opposition in any form in advance of promised reforms in 2010.

Please join us in demanding that the Burmese junta immediately overturn these lengthy sentences and release these activists, as well as all others unjustly imprisoned in Burmese jails.