World

Teens Home From Myanmar

August 17, 1998 / 9:56 AM EDT / AP

During the week she was held under arrest in Myanmar for handing out pro-democracy leaflets, Michele Keegan was never scared.

"I was never afraid because fear was not an option," the 19-year-old Hamilton Township resident said early Monday after she arrived at Newark International Airport to the hugs of waiting family and friends.

"That's what the government uses to oppress its people," she said. "That's the hold they have on them, fear. They don't know how to react when you don't have fear."

Keegan also knew she and 17 fellow activists, including five other Americans, would probably be deported rather than serve prison time for violating the law of the military dictatorship.

"That's what we most likely thought would happen," she said. "We thought we'd be deported much sooner than we were."

Keegan was greeted by about 25 family members and friends who erupted in cheers when she arrived at the airport with fellow activist Anjanette Hamilton, 20, of Portsmouth, N.H.

Keegan's mother, Callie Keegan, shouted, "We got her! We got her!" as she walked with her daughter to the room where other family and friends were waiting. Many wore yellow ribbons or yellow shirts to symbolize their support.

The young women arrived in Bangkok, Thailand, from neighboring Myanmar on Saturday. All 18 activists had been tried and sentenced Friday to five years of hard labor, then deported the next day from Myanmar, also known aBurma.

Keegan was arrested while handing out the leaflets in a market and Hamilton was taken into custody after throwing the papers from a cab window.

The leaflets, printed in English and Burmese, urged the Burmese to continue their fight for human rights and democracy.

The conditions of their imprisonment were "fine," probably because the military government was afraid of international repercussions if they were mistreated, Keegan said.

"The conditions there for the Burmese are absolutely appalling," Hamilton added.

Two other American University students, members of the Free Burma Coalition, also arrived in the United States. Sapna Chhatpar and Nisha Anand were to fly from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., where American University is located.

Despite a warning that the activists would have to serve their sentences and additional penalties if they returned to Myanmar and again broke the law, the four pledged to continue fighting for human rights there.