DIPLOMACY

American Released in Myanmar

Senator Webb secured prisoner's freedom.

The American who was sentenced to seven years of hard labor in Myanmar after swimming to the home of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been released and has left the country, the Associated Press reports. Senator Jim Webb secured the man's freedom on his visit to the country after meeting with the junta's leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe. Webb also met with Suu Kyi for nearly an hour on Saturday, and requested that the country's leadership release the Nobel laureate from her 18-month house arrest. Suu Kyi was sentenced after John Yettaw swam, uninvited, two miles to reach her home, which violated her house arrest. Yettaw stayed for two days, claiming God had sent him there to protect Suu Kyi. The Nobel laureate has spent 14 of the past 20 years in confinement for her pro-democracy actions. Webb is the first member of Congress to visit Myanmar, also known as Burma, in over a decade.