Mawdsley was born in 1973. His parents are David and Diana, and he has three siblings. He gave up his study at Bristol University, and while backpacking met Burmese refugees who engaged his interest in the plight of ethnic minorities in Burma. Although subsequently a declaration of nullity was issued, he married his wife, Elizabeth, in January 2005. They honeymooned in Rome, where their union was blessed by Pope John Paul II.
Burmese activism and imprisonment
Mawdsley took up teaching English at a Burmese refugee camp, and became further involved when government forces burnt down the school. He was arrested three times for his involvement, and deported three times. The second arrest was in May 1998, for handing out stickers and playing songs for the pro democracy movement. On arrest, he was tortured for fifteen hours, and sentenced to five years imprisonment, which was suspended after 98 days. He was rearrested a third time in September 1999, for illegal entry and sedition, and was sentenced to seventeen years in jail. His imprisonment was held to be arbitrary by the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2000. This time, he spent 415 days in solitary confinement, before his release in October 2000, after pressure was exerted by the United Kingdom Foreign Office on the authorities in Myanmar.
External activism and politics
Mawdsley's memoir of his experiences in Burma, The Heart Must Break: The Fight for Democracy and Truth in Burma, was published in 2001; in the United States, the book was titled The Iron Road: A Stand for Truth and Democracy in Burma. In February 2003, Mawdsley co authored New Ground, a pamphlet advocating foreign policy based around freedom, dignity and the rule of law. This document has helped give rise to the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, founded in October 2005. At the 2004 European Parliament Election, Mawdsley was a candidate on the Conservative Party list for the North West England. However, he was placed ninth on the list, so was not one of the three Conservatives who won a seat. In February 2005, he was selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Hyndburn, due to the previous candidate deciding not to stand, overseeing unsuccessful campaigns in 1997 and 2001. In the 2005 General Election, which took place in May 2005, he lost to sitting MP Greg Pope by 5,587 votes. Ken Hargreaves supported his bid into becoming the next MP for Hyndburn. His wife suffered an ectopic pregnancyon the eve of the General Election.
