Myanmar

Myanmar sentenced four activists to prison terms with hard labor on the same day a U.N. envoy arrived to assess progress on human rights in the country, the opposition said Feb. 16. The four women were arrested last October after being accused of offering Buddhist monks alms that included religious literature, said Nyan Win, spokesman for the opposition party headed by detained Nobel Peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The women used to hold prayer services at Yangon’s Shwedagon pagoda for Suu Kyi’s release. They were sentenced earlier to two years imprisonment with hard labor, Nyan Win said. The judgment came as special U.N. envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana arrived for a five-day visit. “Human rights abuses in the country continue unabated even during the visit of the human rights envoy,” Nyan Win said. (AP)