The Burmese comedian Zarganar is just one of the many human rights activists and monks jailed in recent months in huge crackdown

The Burmese comedian Zarganar (seen on left) has long been a critic of the military junta. His use of biting satire antagonized the Generals. For this he has paid a heavy price. During the 1988 student uprising, he was jailed for seven months. In 1990, he was sentenced to five years in jail for making political speeches.

In September 2006, Zarganar was banned indefinitely from performing publicly or participating in any kind of entertainment related work because of his support of the Buddhist monks. In September 2007- when the junta cracked down on an uprising by monks- he was detained for one month.

In 2008 he was arrested for carrying out a private campaign to help the victims of Cyclone Nargis and for speaking out about the poor response by the authorities. In November 2008, he was sentenced to 59 years in prison, convicted of "public order offenses". In February 2009 following an appeal, Yangon Divisional Court reduced the prison sentence by "up to 24 years", bringing the sentence down to 35 years. Since December 2008, Zarganar has been in Myitkyina Prison in Kachin State in the country's far north.

The jailing of Zarganar is part of a coordinated campaign by the Butchers of Rangoon to stamp out all opposition. In recent months, hundreds of anti government activists, Buddhist monks and nuns, journalists, labour activists, bloggers and hip-hop artists have been sentenced to long jail terms. Some are facing between 100 and 150 years back in prison, many for their third or fourth times. Even lawyers are not safe. Some of those who have criticized miscarriages of justice have been jailed.

There is widespread religious persecution. Recently a number of evangelical Christian churches have been closed. Thousands of Rohingyas, a Muslim minority from Rakhine State, western Myanmar (formerly Burma), have been persecuted by the regime and have fled in recent months on boats sailing for Thailand and Malaysia.

The Benenson Society, Human Rights First and Amnesty International have been to the forefront in the campaign to secure the release of activists.

India,China and Russia are strong defenders of the Burmese junta. These three countries must be pressurised to use their political leverage to ensure a release of all activists.