Obama calls on Myanmar to free Aung San Suu Kyi

The Associated Press

Tue, May 26, 2009 (4:15 p.m.)

President Barack Obama called on Myanmar’s government Tuesday to immediately free Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize-winner detained under house arrest since 2003.

Suu Kyi is currently on trial in her country, accused of violating her detention by allowing an uninvited American to stay at her home. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges but faces five years in prison if convicted.

In a statement Tuesday, Obama condemned Suu Kyi’s house arrest and detention. He called on the government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, to release her immediately and unconditionally as a sign of respect for its laws and its people.

“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,” Obama said. “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.”

Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party won national elections in 1990, but Myanmar’s military junta refused to relinquish power. She has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention without trial for her nonviolent promotion of democracy.

Her latest round of house arrest was to expire this week.

Obama noted that Suu Kyi’s detention has also been condemned worldwide.

“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,” the president said. “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.”

The 63-year-old Nobel laureate testified Tuesday in her defense, insisting that she did not break the law by allowing John W. Yettaw, 53, of Falcon, Mo., to stay at her home for two days after he swam across a lake to enter her house uninvited earlier this month. She said security forces were responsible for keeping intruders away from her home. Yettaw has pleaded not guilty to the same charge.

The charges against Suu Kyi are widely considered a pretext to keep her detained ahead of elections planned for next year.

Earlier this month, Obama extended for another year a state of emergency regarding Myanmar, keeping in place tough sanctions against the country.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/may/26/obama-calls-on-myanmar-to-free-aung-san-suu-kyi/

Britain renews call to Myanmar to release Suu Kyi

  Myanmar activists shout slogans during a rally demanding the immediate release of their pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 30, 2009. Detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi urgently needs medical attention in the Myanmar prison where she is being held, her party said Friday, while closing arguments in her trial were delayed until the end of next week. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)

By Vijay Joshi Associated Press Writer / May 30, 2009

 

SINGAPORE—Britain renewed its call for Myanmar’s military junta to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, saying Sunday that people around the world support her and her followers’ struggle for democracy.

Britain’s Minister for International Defense and Security Ann Taylor used a high-profile regional meeting to show solidarity with Suu Kyi, whose trial for allegedly violating the terms of her house arrest has drawn international outrage.

“The people of Burma have suffered half a century of isolation and conflict,” Taylor said, using the former name of Myanmar.

“But Aung San Suu Kyi is not alone. People all around are standing with her and the Burmese people,” she told the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual forum of defense ministers, academics, experts and analysts.

Suu Kyi’s supporters fear that the military junta will use the trial to keep her in detention through next year’s elections, which it claims are part of its “roadmap to democracy.” But few believe that the generals will readily give up power.

Suu Kyi, who has been in detention without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years, has pleaded not guilty but faces up to five years in jail if convicted for sheltering American John W. Yettaw after he secretly swam to her lakeside residence in early May.

“The continued imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi is a reminder that we cannot take for granted the institutions of democracy. We say to the generals: Now is the time for transition to democracy, starting with the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.”

Suu Kyi’s party overwhelmingly won the last elections held in 1990 but was not allowed to take power by the military, which has run the country since 1962.

Taylor’s comments came as the European Union was talking of introducing tougher sanctions in response to the trial. The administration of President Barack Obama has also announced it will continue its economic penalties.

Obama renewed sanctions, which were set to expire, against the country after Suu Kyi’s arrest.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2009/05/30/britain_renews_call_to_myanmar_to_release_suu_kyi/?rss_id=Boston.com+–+Latest+news

 

US intruder to Suu Kyi home acted alone: lawyer

A US man who swam to the home of Aung San Suu Kyi was not paid by or taking orders from any outside organisation, his lawyer said ahead of final arguments in the trial of Myanmar’s democracy icon.

Myanmar’s military regime has expressed scepticism over John Yettaw’s explanation for his visit to the Nobel laureate’s lakeside home, with one official suggesting that the American was a “secret agent or her boyfriend.”

But lawyer Khin Maung Oo said the devout Mormon was a “sincere and pious” person who believed God had told him to warn Aung San Suu Kyi and the government after he had a vision that she would be assassinated.

“There is no issue of him acting on someone’s instruction to him or that some organisation provided money to him to do so,” Khin Maung Oo said of his client, who like Aung San Suu Kyi faces up to five years in jail.

“As far as I know, he’s a very sincere and pious person. He cooperated with the court. He answered the same during the interrogation and at the trial,” he told AFP.

The lawyer added that photos taken by the American in Aung San Suu Kyi’s house — which the prosecution have focused on during the trial — were “just to show his daughter, not for publicity or not to communicate to anyone.”

Hearings in the mostly closed trial of Aung San Suu Kyi and Yettaw have been adjourned until Friday when lawyers will present their closing arguments. The trial has drawn international condemnation.

Yettaw, a former US military veteran, testified in court last week that he had a dream in which Aung San Suu Kyi was killed by “terrorists” and that he swam across the lake using a pair of homemade flippers to alert her.

Last month Myanmar’s consul general in Hong Kong posted a letter on the Internet saying that “we have no idea whether he is either secret agent or her boyfriend.”

The country’s deputy defence minister, Major General Aye Myint, said Sunday that Aung San Suu Kyi had deliberately covered up the visit.

Khin Maung Oo said Yettaw’s story about his reasons for his bizarre night-time swim across Yangon’s Inya Lake on May 4 had been consistent both under interrogation and when his client testified last week.

“He did not deny entering (the house). He said he came here on God’s mission to warn Senior General Than Shwe (the leader of Myanmar’s ruling junta) and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” he said.

“He said he came to warn that she could be assassinated by some terrorists. He said he had his vision in the state of trance. If he had failed to do so, Aung San Suu Kyi could be lost and the government will also lose dignity.”

Khin also said his 53-year-old client was a Vietnam War veteran who has post-traumatic stress syndrome, diabetes and heart disease.

Aung San Suu Kyi has branded the trial as biased and said that she allowed Yettaw to have “temporary shelter” for a night. She blamed Myanmar authorities for the intrusion, saying they failed to provide proper security.

The opposition leader has spent 13 of the last 19 years in detention.

Her party won Myanmar’s last elections, in 1990, but the result was never honoured by the military, which has ruled the country since 1962.

http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3352715

Suu Kyi’s witnesses ‘rejected’

Ms Suu Kyi’s trial has drawn international condemnation Lawyers for the detained Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi say judges have rejected their request to call four defence witnesses. They say only one defence witness is being allowed in her trial on charges of breaking house arrest regulations. This, they say, means a verdict could be reached as soon as Thursday. Ms Suu Kyi has spent the past six years under house arrest. She was put on trial after an American man swam to her home across a lake earlier this month. The BBC’s Jonathan Head, reporting from neighbouring Thailand, says there has been little pretence at fairness by the Burmese authorities during the eight-day trial. Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers have been barred from discussions with their client and she was given no time to prepare her testimony. Charges ‘spurious’ Now three of the four witnesses summoned by the defence have been rejected by the judges and the prosecution has been allowed to call 14. This, says our correspondent, lends support to US President Barack Obama’s description of the process as a show trial on spurious charges. With only one defence witness now allowed to take the stand, our correspondent says, the government should be able to wrap up the case within one or two days and deliver the expected guilty verdict. Yettaw said he came here because God asked him to. Nyan Win, NLD spokesman At Wednesday’s closed hearing at Rangoon’s Insein prison, the man at the centre of the case, John Yettaw, 53, said he had swum to Ms Suu Kyi’s home to warn her that her life was in danger. Nyan Win, a spokesman for Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, who is also on her legal team and was in court, told AFP: “Yettaw said he came here because God asked him to. He said the reason he came was in his vision he saw that Aung San Suu Kyi was assassinated by terrorists. Because of his vision, he came here to warn Aung San Suu Kyi and also the government.” In a written statement to the court on Tuesday, Ms Suu Kyi blamed Mr Yettaw’s visit on a breach of security and said charging her showed the one-sidedness of the prosecution. The trial has been widely condemned abroad as a ploy to keep her in detention until after the 2010 elections. Faces up to five years Ms Suu Kyi is the head of the NLD, which disputes the legitimacy of the polls and the conditions in which the military junta want to hold them. Ms Suu Kyi, 63, had been due for release on Wednesday after her latest six-year detention, but was re-arrested this month after Mr Yettaw’s visit. She says she was not immediately aware of the late-night visit, but had been informed later by her assistant. Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, faces up to five years in jail if convicted. President Obama called on Tuesday for her “immediate and unconditional” release. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8069397.stm

Suu Kyi’s arrest: World leaders must act fact

Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani

| May 15, 09 3:58pm http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/104388

refer to the Malaysiakini report

Suu Kyi and her two maids charged.

The Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organisation of Malaysia (Merhrom) strongly condemns the recent arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by the Burmese military regime. Her house arrest could be extended for another 5-7 years after a journalist from the United States snuck into her house to interview her. The Burmese military regime failed to take into account Suu Kyi’s health conditions as well as her age when making the arrest. We were looking forward to her release at the end of May. We had hoped that with the end of her house arrest, this would bring a new hope for the people of Burma. But now she was taken away from us again. We were losing hope for change in our country. Therefore, we urge Asean, the US, the European Union and the global international community to strongly protest the recent arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Support from the international community is very crucial and much needed at this critical time. Aby delays will affect her health and put her life at risk. If this were to happen, it would lead to mass riots in Burma. We urge world leaders to act fast to secure the release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as it is an illegal arrest by an illegal government. Please act immediately to save her and the people of Burma. The writer is president, Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organisation Malaysia (Merhrom).

Address the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka now

SUARA RAKYAT MALAYSIA

 Address:  433A, Jalan 5/46, Gasing Indah, 46000 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Telephone: +6 03 7784 3525                                Fax: +6 03 7784 3526

Email: suaram@suaram.net                                Web: www.suaram.net

 Press Statement: 2 June 2009

 Address the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka now

SUARAM would like to express our great concern on establishing long lasting peace and human rights in Sri Lanka after the end of three decades civil war. We also condemn the long history of racial discrimination against the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka. We are of the opinion that now is the time for Sri Lankans to work towards healing wounds and unite regardless of ethnic and religious identity, while the interest of the people of Sri Lanka should be prioritised.

 

The bloodbath between the Sinhalese government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) began in 1983 when the Tamil minority which has been suffering systematic discrimination, demanded for an independent state in the north and the east of the island. Since then, civilians have become the victims of both Sinhalese government and the LTTE attacks.

 

According to statistics from the United Nations, at least 7,000 civilians were killed in the final offensive, and between 80,000 and 100,000 people were killed since the war began in 1983. The ongoing war crimes and violation of human rights have culminated in a dark history of humanity.

 

SUARAM is of the view that whenever there are violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, proper investigation should be instituted. This is important to address the truth and reconciliation process and to restore the dignity of victims. Investigations are also important as a record of historical events and to identify lesson to prevent the same incident from recurring.

 

We also acknowledge the commitment of the Government of Sri Lanka to resettle the internally displaced persons (IDPs) before the end of this year. There are more than 300,000 displaced civilians living in the IDP camps. However, we would like to highlight that the present conditions within the IDP camps remains as a grave concern of human rights groups.

 

We call on the government of Sri Lanka to immediately heed the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call to allow greater access to the U.N., the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international relief organisations to the IDP camps.

 

SUARAM calls upon the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity by both the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE and to prosecute those found to be responsible for such crimes. The United Nations Security Council should refer the civil war of Sri Lanka to the ICC for investigations and prosecutions.

 

Lastly, SUARAM calls for the government of Sri Lanka to fully respect the rights of ethnic minorities and treat every ethnic and religious groups – Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslims – equally as without equal treatment, sustained peace and real democracy cannot be achieved.

For further details, please call Suaram at 03-77843525/77835724.