Student leaders held in Burma

Burma’s junta said it had arrested five former student dissidents over the past week to prevent unrest during a crackdown on pro-democracy activists, it was reported today.

Police detained the former student leaders when the political party of detained Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi marked its 18th anniversary.

All were prominent activists who had served prison sentences, some for over a decade, for leading a 1988 pro-democracy uprising in Burma.

The former student leaders called themselves the 88 Generation Students Group, which has been accused by the government of trying to destabilise the country.