Myanmar’s military regime has handed one-year prison sentences to Britain’s former ambassador to Myanmar, Vicky Bowman, and her husband Ko Htein Lin, a renowned artist and former political prisoner, for breaching the Immigration Act. They were arrested on August 24 at their Yangon home and taken to Yangon’s Insein Prison but later transferred to police custody. The regime charged Bowmen for “staying in a family home in Kalaw Township, Shan State, rather than living at the Yangon address where she had originally registered with the authorities” while her husband failed to report his wife’s stay in Shan State. The Act carries up to five years in prison. Their court hearing was originally set for September 6 and it is unclear why it was moved forward, reports The Irrawaddy. Her arrest came as Britain imposed further sanctions on three junta-linked companies, including one in which the son of regime leader Min Aung Hlaing is a director.
