FOREIGN Office Minister Baroness Scotland yesterday summoned the Burmese Ambassador to express the Government's ''fury" over the prison beating of human rights activist James Mawdsley.

Mr Mawdsley, 27, whose mother, Diana, lives in Durham City, was attacked over several days by 15 prison guards with bamboo sticks, leaving him with a broken nose and two black eyes.

He was set upon in what has been described as an act of ''barbarism" for rattling his cell bars in protest about being in solitary confinement.

Baroness Scotland said: ''I have made our fury crystal clear to the Burmese authorities. They cannot treat a British national in this way. It is a gross abuse of human rights and we will not tolerate it. I asked the Burmese Ambassador to tell his government that James must be released immediately or transferred to Rangoon, where consular staff can watch over his welfare and ensure that this barbarism is not repeated."

The Burmese government has said Mr Mawdsley's wounds were self-inflicted after a scuffle, but Baroness Scotland said this was ''utterly implausible''.

Mr Mawdsley is serving a 17-year sentence in Kengtung prison, in the south-east Asian country, for distributing pro-democracy leaflets. He was arrested and imprisoned on August 31 last year, but hopes to have an appeal heard in November.

His mother is in Burma, but has been unable to speak to her son about the attack face-to-face, because authorities insist he can talk to visitors only from inside a glass case, which he refuses to do.