Burmese protest leader monk Gambira 'taken away'

The Burmese monk Shin Gambira has been taken away by authorities, sources told the BBC's Burmese Service. Gambira, one of the leaders of the August 2007 anti-government protests, was among several high profile political prisoners released on 13 January by the country's civilian, military-backed government. He was taken from a monastery in Yangon early Friday morning, his brother said. It remains unclear where and why he had been taken. Some 15 officials came in three cars at about 01:15 local time (1845 GMT Thursday), a monk who was with Gambira told the BBC. These officials were from the government religious authority department and Yangon division government, he added. Since his release last month, Gambira has reportedly been reopening monasteries that were locked up by the authorities since the ''saffron revolution'' movement led by monks in 2007. The 31-year-old, one of the leaders of the All-Burmese Monks Alliance, was arrested on 4 November, 2007, weeks after the protest was crushed. Less than three weeks later, he was jailed for 68 years including 12 of hard labour. Last month, he was one of 651 people freed in what was the most significant release of political prisoners since the country began a series of reforms aimed at encouraging the lifting of sanctions imposed by the European Union and United States.