July 16, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 15, 1424

WASHINGTON, July 15: US lawmakers on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to sanction Myanmar’s ruling military junta, impose trade restrictions, freeze the regime’s financial assets in US banks, and install a visa ban on regime members seeking to enter the United States.

The Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 passed the US House of Representatives by a vote of 418 to 2.

The US Senate last month passed similar legislation banning the import of goods made in Myanmar and freezing the military government’s assets in the United States.

Both bills were introduced in protest over the junta’s recent crackdown on the pro-democracy opposition and its detention on May 30 of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.—AFP