Letter: Courage in Burma

Sir: In peacefully confronting the Burmese junta, Rachel Goldwyn and James Mawdsley have shown a shaming courage, as have countless Burmese nationals who risk even harsher sentences ("Rachel Goldwyn sang a protest song in Burma. Yesterday she was given seven years' hard labour", 17 September).

Meanwhile, our government drags its heels on economic sanctions (to which they were committed when in opposition) despite calls by Burma's pro-democracy leader, the Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

I hope Robin Cook does not now trot out the convenient but insulting excuse that action against Burma might rebound on the two British prisoners; for surely they were striving to advance the cause of Burmese democracy, not compromise it.

VERA LUSTIG

Walton-on-Thames, Surre