Father granted access to son

Father granted access to son

YANGON (AFP): The father of a British democracy activist serving a 17-year jail term in Myanmar has been granted permission to visit his son on Tuesday, a government statement said on Monday.

James Mawdsley has been held in solitary confinement in northern Shan State since September when he was arrested in Myanmar for the third time.

His father, David Mawdsley, has previously spoken out against the Myanmar junta, saying he feared his son was being tortured in jail.

James, 26, who also holds an Australian passport, has twice been deported from Myanmar. In 1998 he served 99 days of a five- year sentence which was suspended on the condition that he not enter the country again.