US Teacher Deported from Burma

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December 3, 2009

Irrawaddy News: An American English teacher working for the American Center in Rangoon was deported on Saturday, according to a source close to the US Embassy in Rangoon who spoke to The Irrawaddy on conditions of anonymity.

Christina Peterson was briefly detained at a highway bus station in Rangoon on her way back from the American Consulate in Mandalay, where she had given a talk on environmental issues. Some members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) also participated in the talk, according to the source.

“She just talked about environmental issues in Mandalay. The moment she got off the bus in Rangoon, she was immediately taken to the airport and wasn’t even allowed to go back to her room,” the source said.

Drake Weisert, Assistant Public Affairs Officer of the US Embassy in Rangoon, confirmed the news but declined to give details, citing privacy reasons.

Peterson had been working for the American Center in Rangoon as an English teacher since 2007, and she was also an organizer of an environmental club for the center. The American Center provides English language courses and runs a library popular among young people in Rangoon.

Last May, US citizens Jerry Redfern and his wife Karen Coates, who were teaching feature writing and photography in Mandalay, were also forced to leave the country.

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