“Free Suu Kyi” Campaigners Released

“Free Suu Kyi” Campaigners Released By Htet Aung June 28, 2007 Email Article Print Article Fifty o­ne pro-democracy activists arrested during a prayer campaign in May for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi were freed o­n Wednesday night, a spokesman for her National League for Democracy announced o­n Thursday.    Supporters of Burma detained Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon (Photo: AFP) The authorities continue to hold o­ne detained woman, the HIV/AIDS activist Phyu Phyu Thin, who has been staging a hunger strike, spokesman Myint Thein told The Irrawaddy by phone. “The NLD calls for the immediate release of Phyu Phyu Thin, who should receive health care from her family,” Myint Thein said. “We [the NLD], together with her family, are seriously concerned about her health.”   Phyu Phyu Thin began her hunger strike o­n June 19 and has been taking o­nly liquids, Myint Thein said. It isn’t known where the authorities are holding the activist, who devotes her time to caring, counseling and supporting hundreds of HIV/AIDS patients. The US State Department, meanwhile, issued a statement o­n Wednesday calling for her immediate release. “The United States calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Phyu Phyu Thin (and) others recently detained while praying at pagodas,” US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in the statement.   One of the released activists, Nay Htun, told The Irrawaddy by phone that o­n the day of their release they had been taken to Aung Thapyay police detention center. “We are first separately detained in No 3, 5 and 9 Riot Police battalions.”     Nay Htun, 22, who lives in Prome, Pegu Division, came to Rangoon o­n a business trip and joined the campaigners praying for Aung San Suu Kyi’s release. He said he would continue to campaign for the NLD leader’s release from house arrest. “I also have to do more for truth and freedom because of my detention experience.” Nay Htun said he and other detained activists had been treated well. Another released activist, Oh Wai, said the police, and even their commander, had shown “understanding and sympathy for what we are doing. Their lives are so poor, but they all help us as much as they can despite their poor living conditions.”

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