Burma: Free Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi has been found guilty in her trial for “violating the conditions of her house arrest”. She has been sentenced to another 18 months of house arrest, keeping her locked away until after Burma’s next general election. She has already spent 13 of the past 20 years in detention, but is one of more than 2,100 political prisoners currently locked away in Burma.

Until she is released unconditionally, there can be no genuine improvement in the human rights situation in Burma. Through her courage and commitment to non-violent protest, she has become a symbol of hope and inspiration in her own country and around the world.

Background

Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader and one of the founders of Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). In 1990 her party won the Burmese election by an overwhelming majority. But the ruling junta declared the results null and void and placed Suu Kyi under house arrest.

Suu Kyi may be the best known of Burma’s prisoners of conscience, but she is far from the only one. Amnesty International estimates that even before the recent crackdown, there were more than 1,150 political prisoners including numerous prisoners of conscience being held in Burma.

Today Aung San Suu Kyi is not allowed any visitors. Her phone line is cut and her post intercepted. She is separated from her children. She was not even allowed to see her husband before his death from cancer in 1999. And yet through her courage and commitment to non-violent protest, she has become a symbol of hope and inspiration in her own country and around the world.

• Please visit www.64forSuu.org which is supported by Amnesty International
• Stand up to the Junta - Take action now for human rights in Burma

Aung San Suu Kyi has been found guilty in her trial for “violating the conditions of her house arrest”. She has been sentenced to another 18 months of house arrest, keeping her locked away until after Burma’s next general election. She has already spent 13 of the past 20 years in detention, but is one of more than 2,100 political prisoners currently locked away in Burma.

Until she is released unconditionally, there can be no genuine improvement in the human rights situation in Burma. Through her courage and commitment to non-violent protest, she has become a symbol of hope and inspiration in her own country and around the world.

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