By Antoine Lokongo SUPPORTERS of James Mawdsley yesterday staged a "remembrance event" to mark the first anniversary of his imprisonment.
It was organised by the Jubilee Campaign, a Christian human rights group, and attended by James' family, Lord Alton of Liverpool, and Lord Brennan QC, who wishes to represent James but has been denied permission to enter Burma.
Ben Castle, one of Britain's leading saxophonists played a musical tribute to James' courage and determination to draw attention to the genocidal campaign waged by the Burmese military junta against the Karen and other Burmese minorities.
It was followed by prayer
and poetry recital. The boat,
decorated with banners calling for James' release, then sailed down the Thames from
Lambeth pier.
James, 27, a Catholic from Lancashire, was jailed for 17 years just 10 hours after he legally entered Burma on August 31 last year and staged a peaceful protest. He has since been held in solitary confinement in Kengtung Prison.