IMAGINE PEACE

Stand With Suu Kyi on June 18th!

On June 18th Amnesty International & Burma Point will be calling activists and supporters throughout New York City to join us outside the United Nations Headquarters at Ralph Bunche Park for a demonstration calling for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all the political prisoners of Myanmar (Burma). The demonstration will take place on the same day as Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday, which will be June 19th in Myanmar (Burma).

Amnesty International members and other activists will be holding signs urging the Myanmar government to immediately and unconditionally release Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience. After the demonstration, there will be a panel discussion with T. Kumar, director of international advocacy at Amnesty International USA and Mo Chen from Burma Point, among other experts.

Aung San Suu Kyi, co-founded the National League for Democracy (NLD), a pro-democracy political party that sought to counter the military junta that had reigned over Myanmar since 1962. In 1990, the NLD won over 80 percent of the parliamentary seats in a general election. Surprised at the landslide victory, the military junta refused to transfer power to Suu Kyi and the NLD, and jailed scores of political activists.

For 14 of the past 20 years, Suu Kyi has endured unofficial detention, house arrest and restrictions on her movement. She continues to be held under house arrest in Yangon.

Stand With Suu Kyi on June 18th!

Demonstration
June 18 from 12-1 pm
Ralph Bunche Park across the street from the UN (1st Ave and 43rd St);

Panel Discussion
June 18th from 1-2:30 pm
777 UN Church Center Plaza (44th St and 1st Ave)

CONTACT
Thenjiwe Mcharris / tmcharris@aiusa.org / 212.633.4215

HOSTED BY
Amnesty International & Burma Point

For more information, please contact the AIUSA media office or visit www.amnestyusa.org.

Her name is Aung San Suu Kyi

Amnesty International Calls Suu Kyi’s New Sentence “Shameful”

(Washington, DC) Today’s guilty verdict against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by a court in Myanmar has been described by Amnesty International’s Secretary General Irene Khan as “shameful”. “Her arrest, trial and now this guilty verdict are nothing more than legal and political theatre,” added Irene Khan.

On August 11, a court in Yangon’s Insein prison found Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader guilty of violating the conditions of her house arrest, after an uninvited man spent two nights there in early May. Under Section 22 of Myanmar’s State Protection Act of 1975, the court sentenced Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to three years imprisonment, commuted to 18 months under house arrest. This was less than the maximum five years’ imprisonment allowed by law.

“The Myanmar authorities will hope that a sentence that is shorter than the maximum will be seen by the international community as an act of leniency. But it is not, and must not be seen as such, especially by ASEAN or the UN. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained for over 13 of the past 20 years but should never have been arrested in the first place. The only issue here is her immediate and unconditional release”, said Irene Khan.

Amnesty International also noted that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a prisoner of conscience, is one of more than 2,150 political prisoners in Myanmar.

Background

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s sentencing comes in the midst of ongoing human rights violations by the military against ethnic minority civilians. In early June the Myanmar army staged attacks and took Karen civilians for forced labor in Kayin State. This resulted in over 3,500 refugees fleeing to Thailand.

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

Take action for Aung San Suu Kyi HERE.

Burma court finds Suu Kyi guilty

from BBC News

Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to 18 months of house arrest, after a court found her guilty of violating security laws. Ms Suu Kyi, a 64-year-old Nobel peace laureate, was on trial for allowing a US national into her lakeside home after he swam there. Critics of Burma’s military regime say the verdict is designed to prevent her from taking part in elections in 2010. Ms Suu Kyi has spent nearly 14 of the past 20 years in detention. Her American visitor, John Yettaw, was jailed for seven years including four years of hard labour. Ms Suu Kyi was taken straight back to her home after the end of the trial, officials said.

She had always denied the charge but said she expected to be convicted. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was “saddened and angry” by the verdict and described the trial as a “sham”. In a strongly-worded statement, Mr Brown said it was “a purely political sentence”. A statement from the office of Nicolas Sarkozy said the French president was calling on the European Union to impose new sanctions on Burma. The EU presidency said it would impose “additional targeted measures against those responsible for the verdict”. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Aung San Suu Kyi should not have been convicted, and she also called for the release of American citizen John Yettaw.

“We are concerned about the harsh sentence imposed on him, especially in light of his medical condition,” she told reporters. Mr Yettaw is believed to have epilepsy, diabetes and post-traumatic stress disorder, and has been treated at a Rangoon hospital. Myint Myint Aye, of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party – the country’s main opposition, said the party did not accept the verdict, adding: “We demand her immediate unconditional release and we will keep on pressing.”

Journalists had unexpectedly been allowed to enter the court in Rangoon’s Insein prison shortly before the sentence was announced. The courtroom was initially told that Ms Suu Kyi was sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour. But after a five-minute recess, Burma’s home minister entered the courtroom and read out a special order from the country’s military ruler Than Shwe that reduced the sentence to 18 months and said it could be served under house arrest.

Than Shwe said he reduced the sentence to “maintain peace and tranquillity” and because Ms Suu Kyi was the daughter of Aung San, a national hero who helped to win Burma’s independence from Britain. Ms Suu Kyi looked alert but tired during the 90-minute court appearance. She stood as the verdict was read out and then thanked foreign diplomats for attending.
“I hope we can all work for peace and prosperity of the country,” she said quietly to diplomats seated nearby. She then was led out of the courtroom. There was tight security around the prison, with security forces sealing off the area. The trial has brought international condemnation, and many analysts say the main reason it was held was to give Burma’s military government an excuse to keep Ms Suu Kyi out of next year’s planned multi-party elections. Her previous period of house arrest expired on 27 May, and this new term will mean she is still in detention during the polls, which are expected to happen in about May 2010. The NLD won the last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power. Mr Yettaw, 54, swam to Ms Suu Kyi’s lakeside house in Rangoon uninvited and stayed there for two nights in May.

As a result, Ms Suu Kyi was accused of breaching the terms of her house arrest and faced up to five years in prison. Ms Suu Kyi’s two female house companions were also arrested with her. At the trial they also received the commuted sentence of 18 months house arrest.

Mr Yettaw, of Falcon, Missouri, was sentenced to three years in prison for breaching Ms Suu Kyi’s house arrest, three years with hard labour for an immigration offence and another one-year term with hard labour for swimming in a restricted zone. It was not clear if the prison terms would be served concurrently. Reports say he was discharged from hospital on Monday night after a week of treatment for epileptic seizures. But according to the editor of the BBC’s Burmese Service, Tin Htar Swe, the regime has no real reason to keep him so his sentence may well be commuted at a later date.

64forSuu by Yoko Ono

Aung San Suu Kyi,
Your heart beats with my heart.
My eyes see what you see.
My belief is your belief.
And my life is connected to thousands of universes, as is yours.

Every twinkle of the star must travel billions of years to be seen by us.
But our minds do not have to travel at all to be seen by each other.
Because we are altogether.

Yoko Ono Lennon
June 19th ’09

Video from Amnesty International

Aung San Suu Kyi has committed no crime. As one of the founders of the National League for Democracy and the winner of the 1990 general election, she is being held in detention simply because of her political activities and peaceful opposition to the military regime that controls Burma.
Take action for Aung San Suu Kyi HERE.

Statement by President Obama on Aung San Suu Kyi’s House Arrest and Detention

Below is a statement just released by President Obama:

THE WHITE HOUSE

Statement by the President on Aung San Suu Kyi’s House Arrest and Detention

I call on the Burmese government to release National League for Democracy Secretary General and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi from detention immediately and unconditionally. I strongly condemn her house arrest and detention, which have also been condemned around the world. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued opinions affirming that the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi dating back to 2003 is arbitrary, unjustified, and in contravention of Burma’s own law, and the United Nations Security Council reaffirmed on May 22 their concern about the situation and called for the release of all political prisoners.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s continued detention, isolation, and show trial based on spurious charges cast serious doubt on the Burmese regime’s willingness to be a responsible member of the international community. This is an important opportunity for the government in Burma to demonstrate that it respects its own laws and its own people, is ready to work with the National League for Democracy and other ethnic and opposition groups, and is prepared to move toward reconciliation.

By her actions, Aung San Suu Kyi has represented profound patriotism, sacrifice, and the vision of a democratic and prosperous Burma. It is time for the Burmese government to drop all charges against Aung San Suu Kyi and unconditionally release her and her fellow political prisoners. Such an action would be an affirmative and significant step on Burma’s part to begin to restore its standing in the eyes of the United States and the world community and to move toward a better future for its people.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Statement-by-the-President-on-Aung-San-Suu-Kyis-House-Arrest-and-Detention/

64ForSuu.org: Global Campaign To Free Aung San Suu Kyi launched today

A new website calling for the release of Burma’s democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and all of Burma’s political prisoners, launches today with the backing of major celebrities and a coalition of NGOs and trade unions. The website will become the global hub of the international campaign to release Aung San Suu Kyi.

The launch coincides with the day that, according to the Burmese regime, Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest expires. The UN has already ruled that her detention is illegal. More than 2,100 political prisoners are being held in Burma’s jails.

64forSuu.org allows anyone to upload video, text, image or twitter messages of support to Burma’s imprisoned democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. 64forSuu.org aims to demonstrate the scale of outrage over her continued detention by encouraging high profile individuals and the public around the world to write a 64 word message, a “64”, that will be delivered on Aung San Suu Kyi’s 64th birthday on June 19th.

Organisations supporting the website include; Burma Campaign UK, Amnesty International,Christian Solidarity Worldwide,Open Society Institute, Avaaz, theTrade Union Congress ,English Pen, Human Rights Watch and Not On Our Watch. The site will launch with messages from high-profile supporters including George Clooney, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Vaclav Havel, David Beckham, Daniel Craig, and the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
Stephen Fry, Eddie Izzard, Kevin Spacey and Sarah Brown will be twittering on the site.

A selection of the 64’s from the site are below:

Not On Our Watch:
“Nineteen years ago, the Burmese people chose Aung San Suu Kyi as their next leader. For most of those 19 years she has been kept under house arrest by the military junta that runs the country. We must not stand by as she is silenced again. Now is the time for the international community to speak with one voice: Free Aung San Suu Kyi.”

Signed by: George Clooney, Sec. Madeleine Albright, Wes Anderson, Drew Barrymore, David Beckham, Bono, Matthew Broderick, Sandra Bullock, James Carville, Michael Chabon, Daniel Craig, John Cusack, Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Dave Eggers, Jake Gyllenhaal, Václav Havel, Helen Hunt, Anjelica Huston, Scarlett Johansson, Nicole Kidman, Ashton Kutcher, Norman Lear, Madonna, Mary Matalin, Sen. John & Cindy McCain, Rose McGowan, Orhan Pamuk, Sarah Jessica Parker, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Robert Rodriguez, Meg Ryan, Liev Schreiber, George Soros, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Naomi Watts, Prof. Elie Wiesel, Owen Wilson.

British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown’s “64”:
“I add my voice to the growing chorus of those demanding your release. For too long the world has failed to act in the face of this intolerable injustice. That is now changing. The clamour for your release is growing across Europe, Asia, and the entire world. We must do all we can to make this Birthday the last you spend without your freedom.”

Notes to editors:
About Aung San Suu Kyi:
Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Ong San Soo Chee), Burma’s pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate, symbolises the struggle of Burma’s people to be free. She has been detained for over 13 years by the Burmese regime for campaigning for human rights and democracy in Burma.

On May 18th Aung San Suu Kyi was put on trial, charged with breaching the terms of her house arrest after an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her house and refused to leave. The dictatorship are using the visit as an opportunity to extend her detention, which was expected to expire this month. Her trial is ongoing and she could face a further five years in detention.

In 1990 she led her party to win 82% of seats in national elections in Burma, despite being placed under house arrest. She has been in and out of detention ever since. She was held under house arrest from 1989-1995, and again from 2000-2002. She was again arrested in May 2003 after the Depayin massacre, during which up to 100 of her supporters were beaten to death by the regime’s militia. Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest in Rangoon. Her phone line has been cut, her post is intercepted and National League for Democracy volunteers providing security at her compound were removed in December 2004.

She has won numerous international awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, the Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament and the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom. She has called on people around the world to join the struggle for freedom in Burma, saying “Please use your liberty to promote ours.”

For more information contact Johnny Chatterton, and Website Manager for 64forsuu.org, and Campaigns Officer at Burma Campaign UK on 0207 324 4710.

U.N. Security Council must demand Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s immediate release by Myanmar government, urges Amnesty International

Amnesty International, May 14, 2009

To take action for Aung San Suu Kyi online, click HERE.

Aung San Suu Kyi, © Chris Robinson

Amnesty International is demanding that the U.N. Security Council, notably China and Japan, and ASEAN countries, urgently intervene to secure Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s release from Insein prison. They are best placed to bring the necessary pressure to bear on the Myanmar government.

Myanmar's Insein Prison, where Auung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of others are held (c) Digital Globe 2008. Image taken from Google Earth

“The government of Myanmar must free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at once, without condition, and not return her to house arrest ” said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’s Myanmar expert.

Amnesty International is also highlighting the detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s two female companions, Khin Khin Win and her daughter, who were arrested at the same time. All three are facing trial on May 18 in connection with an incident at the beginning of May when an American national allegedly swam across the lake in front of her house and stayed there for two days.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has recently been in poor health. When her regular doctor, Tin Myo Win, called on her on May 7, security forces prevented him from entering her house. On returning home, he was taken away by the authorities. Dr. Tin Myo Win is a former prisoner of conscience, whose current whereabouts remain unknown.

“Khin Khin Win, her daughter and Dr. Tin Myo Win are now among more than 2,100 political prisoners currently being held in prison in Myanmar,” said Zawacki. “Just like other political prisoners, they are at risk of torture and other ill-treatment. Conditions in Myanmar prisons are extremely bad and jeopardise the health of prisoners.”

“In the absence of a unified international voice, the Myanmar government will continue to act in utter disregard for human rights. Now more than ever, the Security Council and ASEAN member states must send an unequivocal signal to the generals that they can no longer act with impunity,” Zawacki concluded.

Background

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of the opposition party, the National League for Democracy, and has been detained for 13 of the past 19 years, mostly under house arrest. Her current house detention order is set to expire on May 27, 2009. In March 2009, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that the detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi violated both international law and Myanmar’s domestic legislation.

About Amnesty International

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.
For more information, please visit: www.amnestyusa.org & www.amnesty.org

FREE DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI

The military rulers of Myanmar have jailed thousands of people in their continuing efforts to crush all dissenting views. Most prominent of those detained is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been the beacon of hope and change for nearly two decades in Myanmar, the Southeast Asian nation formerly known as Burma.

Aung San Suu Kyi, co-founded the National League for Democracy (NLD), a pro-democracy political party that sought to counter the military junta that had reigned over Myanmar since 1962. In 1990, the NLD won almost 80 percent of the parliamentary seats in a general election. Surprised at the landslide victory, the military junta refused to transfer power to Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD, and jailed scores of political activists.

For 13 of the past 19 years, Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced “Awng Sahn Soo Chee”) has endured unofficial detention, house arrest and restrictions on her movement. She continues to be held under house arrest in Yangon without charge or trial.

Amnesty International seeks the immediate and unconditional release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience in Myanmar.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Please send politely worded letters to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, urging him to bring about the immediate and unconditional release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience in Myanmar.

Write to:

Foreign Minister Nyan Win
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Bldg. (19)
Naypyitaw
UNION OF MYANMAR
Postage: 94 cents

You can use our sample letter as a guide, (word doc) | (pdf) but please be encouraged to add your own thoughts.

To take action for Aung San Suu Kyi online, click HERE.

Why are the Burmese Junta scared of Aung San Suu Kyi?

REM’s Michael Stipe asks “Why are the Burmese Junta scared of Aung San Suu Kyi?”
She has now been under arrest for 13 years.
To find out more about Suu Kyi go to http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk

Now! Aung San Suu Kyi from hensmans on Vimeo.

A video animation from 1991 about Human Rights defenders in danger.
This one is about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Aung San Suu Kyi – a biography

Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Ong San Soo Chee), Burma’s pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate, symbolises the struggle of Burma’s people to be free.

She was born on June 19th, 1945 to Burma’s independence hero, Aung San, who was assassinated when she was only two years old.

Aung San Suu Kyi was educated in Burma, India, and the United Kingdom. While studying at Oxford University, she met Michael Aris, a Tibet scholar who she married in 1972. They had two sons, Alexander and Kim. On March 27 1999, while Aung San Suu Kyi was in Burma, Michael Aris died of cancer in London. He had petitioned the Burmese authorities to allow him to visit Suu Kyi one last time, but they had rejected his request. He had not seen her since a Christmas visit in 1995. The government always urged Suu Kyi to join her family abroad, but she knew that she would not be allowed to return.

Aung San Suu Kyi had returned to Burma in 1988 to nurse her dying mother and was immediately plunged into the country’s nationwide democracy uprising. Joining the newly-formed National League for Democracy (NLD), Suu Kyi gave numerous speeches calling for freedom and democracy. The military regime responded to the uprising with brute force, killing up to 5,000 demonstrators. Unable to maintain its grip on power, the regime was forced to call a general election in 1990.

As Aung San Suu Kyi began to campaign for the NLD, she and many others were detained by the regime. Despite being held under house arrest, the NLD went on to win a staggering 82% of the seats in parliament. The regime never recognized the results of the election.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been in and out of arrest ever since. She was held under house arrest from 1989-1995, and again from 2000-2002. She was again arrested in May 2003 after the Depayin massacre, during which up to 100 of her supporters were beaten to death by the regime’s militia. Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest in Rangoon. Her phone line has been cut, her post is intercepted and National League for Democracy volunteers providing security at her compound were removed in December 2004.

She has won numerous international awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, the Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament and the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom. She has called on people around the world to join the struggle for freedom in Burma, saying “Please use your liberty to promote ours”.

Chronology

‘In The Quiet Land’ by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

In the Quiet Land, no one can tell
if there’s someone who’s listening
for secrets they can sell.

The informers are paid in the blood of the land
and no one dares speak what the tyrants won’t stand.

In the quiet land of Burma,
no one laughs and no one thinks out loud.
In the quiet land of Burma,
you can hear it in the silence of the crowd

In the Quiet Land, no one can say
when the soldiers are coming
to carry them away.
The Chinese want a road; the French want the oil;
the Thais take the timber; and SLORC takes the spoils…

In the Quiet Land….
In the Quiet Land, no one can hear
what is silenced by murder
and covered up with fear.
But, despite what is forced, freedom’s a sound
that liars can’t fake and no shouting can drown.

‘Free Bird Towards a Free Burma’ by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

My home…
where I was born and raised
used to be warm and lovely
now filled with darkness and horror.

My family…
whom I had grown with
used to be cheerful and lively
now living with fear and terror.

My friends…
whom I shared my life with
used to be pure and merry
now living with wounded heart.

A free bird…
which is just freed
used to be caged
now flying with an olive branch
for the place it loves.

A free bird towards a Free Burma.

‘Why do I have to fight?’ by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

They killed my father a year ago,
And they burnt my hut after that
I asked the city men “why me?” they ignored
“I don’t know, mind your business,” the men said.

One day from elementary school I came home,
Saw my sister was lifeless, lying in blood.
I looked around to ask what happened, if somebody’d known,
Found no one but living room as a flood.

Running away by myself on the village road,
Not knowing where to go but heading for my teacher
Realizing she’s the only one who could help to clear my throat,
But this time she gave up, telling me strange things in fear.

Why, teacher, why.. why.. why?
I have no dad nor a sister left.
To teach me and to care for me you said, was that a lie?
This time with tearful eyes she, again, said…

“Be a grown one, young man,
Can’t you see we all are dying?
And stop this with your might as soon as you can,
For we all are suffering.”

Links

The Burma Campaign UK works for human rights, democracy and development in Burma. …

U.S. based organization that dedicated to empowering grassroots activists around the world to bring about an end to the military dictatorship in Burma…

1976 Nobel Peace Laureate, Betty Williams, recounts her experience from visiting the children in a Refugee Camp for Burmese. Honest, Graphic, Real…

A news magazine published by IPG which was founded in 1992 by Burmese exiles living in Thailand…

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