Myanmar court sentences Muslim man to 26 years for assault that triggered Buddhist rioting

YANGON, Myanmar – A court in Myanmar has given a 26-year jail sentence to a Muslim man whose attack on a Buddhist woman set off sectarian rioting in the country's northeast.

A local politician who observed the trial, Sai Myint Maung, said Ne Win was sentenced on Tuesday after being convicted of attempted murder, causing serious injury and possession and use of illegal drugs.

The rioting in Lashio in Shan state marked the extension of deadly anti-Muslim violence from areas in western and central Myanmar.

It began May 28 after Ne Win splashed gasoline on a Buddhist woman and set her on fire. The woman was hospitalized with serious burns.

Buddhist mobs took revenge by burning several Muslim shops, one of the city's main mosques and an Islamic orphanage. One person died.