Released American leaves Myanmar with Webb

UPDATED:

BANGKOK | Myanmar freed an ailing American whom it had sentenced to seven years of hard labor and handed him to an influential U.S senator on Sunday, a move that could help persuade Washington to soften its hardline policy against the military regime.

Sen. Jim Webb, Virginia Democrat, who secured John Yettaw’s freedom, said he believes years of sanctions have failed to move the Southeast Asian country toward democratic reforms or talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mr. Webb said he would discuss his conclusions and recommendations with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and others on his return to Washington. He declined to speculate on what the Obama administration, which is reviewing its policy toward Myanmar, would do. Mr. Webb can rally support for changes to U.S. policy in Asia as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee.

Mr. Webb flew with Mr. Yettaw to Bangkok on Sunday afternoon. Mr. Yettaw had been held at Insein Prison in Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, since his arrest in early May.

The 53-year-old Mr. Yettaw was apprehended as he swam away from Mrs. Suu Kyi’s lakeside residence, where he had sheltered for two days after sneaking in uninvited. He was convicted last week of breaking the terms of Mrs. Suu Kyi’s house arrest and related charges, and sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labor.

Mrs. Suu Kyi, who has been detained for 14 of the past 20 years, was herself sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor for violating her house arrest conditions through Mr. Yettaw’s visit, although that was reduced to 18 months under house arrest by order of the junta chief, Senior Gen. Than Shwe.

Observers widely believe Mr. Yettaw’s intrusion into Mrs. Suu Kyi’s home gave the junta a legal pretext to keep Mrs. Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, incarcerated through next year’s general election. Mr. Yettaw testified that he had a vision that Mrs. Suu Kyi was at risk from assassins, and visited her to warn her.

A pale and haggard-looking Mr. Yettaw had to be assisted as he walked off the small plane on arrival in Bangkok. He smiled and flashed ‘I love you’ in sign language to waiting reporters. He did not respond to questions.

In the United States, Mr. Yettaw’s family said he has been hospitalized in Bangkok.

His ex-wife, Yvonne, said she had spoken to his current wife, Betty Yettaw, of Camdenton, Mo., who said she spoke with her husband in Bangkok.

“He told her he was not treated as well as everyone there and in the press had been saying,” Yvonne Yettaw, of Palm Springs, Calif., said.

She said Betty Yettaw told her they were just running tests in the Bangkok hospital but did not know what for. “But he is not in good health,” Yvonne Yettaw said.

Yvonne Yettaw also said the family has to pay for his ticket home, and there have been some complications trying to schedule a flight, so it is unclear when he will be returning to the United States.

Myanmar state television said Sunday night that Mr. Yettaw, from Falcon, Mo., was freed on humanitarian grounds because of his health. He reportedly suffers from diabetes, epilepsy and asthma and was hospitalized for a week during the trial after suffering seizures.

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