One of Burma’s most famous comedians went on trial yesterday for the crime of providing aid to the victims of Cyclone Nargis.

The repressive and secretive junta released no details of the trial of Maung Thura, which took place in a closed court, deep inside the country’s most notorious prison.

His sister-in-law, Ma Hdway, said that the comedian, film director and social activist, better known by his stage name, Zarganar, was charged with five crimes, including unlawful association and creating public unrest. Diplomats familiar with the case said that he could face a sentence of up to 20 years in Rangoon’s Insein prison.

Zarganar was arrested two months ago after leading more than 400 actors, directors, writers and young activists delivering aid to some of the remotest villages of the Irrawaddy delta, where more than 130,000 people are believed to have died in the powerful cyclone that tore across the area on May 2. The generals seem to have been particularly incensed by videos of the destruction filmed by the group and widely circulated in Burma by e-mail and DVD.

These gave the lie to the Government’s claim that the disaster was under control and added to anger at its refusal to allow foreign emergency workers into the delta.

Zarganar was also fearless in talking to foreign journalists, a rare and courageous act in Burma where the local media are emasculated by censorship. Although careful not to articulate explicit opposition to the Government, his extensive programme of aid was a silent reproach to the Government.

The trial hearing came just before a day of high tension in Burma — the anniversary of the 1988 uprising against the military dictatorship in which thousands of protesters were killed by the army. Residents of Rangoon reported that unusual numbers of police were visible in the city but that the only signs of unrest were splodges of red paint, thrown on to bus stops, advertising hoardings and university campuses as a symbol of the blood shed 20 years ago.

Given the state of police readiness and the harsh punishments for those who resist, it seems unlikely that there will be any significant protests today. The day will be marked with demonstrations by human rights activists in many other cities across the world, including London, New York and Delhi. In Bangkok, Burmese exiles plan to picket the Chinese Embassy in protest at Beijing’s support for the regime.

Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma, left Rangoon last night after a four-day visit during which he went to Insein jail and met political prisoners incarcerated for their part in the 1988 uprising. Although the protest was quelled at a cost of at least 3,000 lives, it brought about a coup within the junta and led to democratic elections in 1990 in which the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won an overwhelming victory. The generals refused to yield power and placed Ms Suu Kyi under house arrest.

Across the Burmese border in Thailand, President Bush gave a speech in which he condemned the junta.

“We seek an end to tyranny in Burma,” he said. “America reiterates our call on Burma’s junta to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners,” he said.

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