Muslim man accused of sparking Burma unrest jailed for 26 years

<p>A Muslim man whose attack on a Buddhist woman set off sectarian rioting in north-east Burma last month has been sentenced to 26 years in prison, a local politician said.</p><p>The court sentenced 48-year-old Ne Win on Tuesday after he was convicted of attempted murder, causing serious injury and possession and use of illegal drugs, said the National League for Democracy member Sai Myint Maung, who attended the trial.</p><p>The rioting in Lashio in Shan state marked the extension of anti-Muslim violence from areas in western and central Burma.</p><p>The unrest in Lashio began on May 28 after Ne Win splashed petrol on a woman and set her on fire. She was taken to hospital with serious burns.</p><p>Buddhist mobs took revenge by burning several Muslim shops, one of the city's main mosques, an Islamic orphanage and a cinema. One person, a Muslim, died.</p><p>While Muslims have overwhelmingly been the victims of the past year's violence, the justice system has been slow to punish the perpetrators, who come mostly from the overwhelmingly Buddhist majority.</p><p>The sectarian violence began in western Rakhine state last year, when hundreds died in clashes between Buddhist and Muslims that drove about 140,000 people, mostly Muslims, from their homes. The violence had seemed confined to that region, but in late March riots swept the town of Meikthila in central Burma, killing at least 43 people.</p><p>A court last month sentenced seven Muslims to prison, one of them to a life term, for the killing of a Buddhist monk during the unrest in Meikhtila. In April, a gold shop owner and two employees, all Muslims, were sentenced by the same court to 14 years in prison on charges of theft and causing grievous bodily harm. No Buddhist has been tried on any serious charge for the violence there.</p><p>The failure of President Thein Sein's government to stop the religious strife has cast doubts on the progress of his ambitious political and economic reforms, begun when he took office in 2011 after almost five decades of repressive military rule. The violence has also tarnished the reputation of the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has not unequivocally condemned discrimination against non-Buddhist minorities.</p>