yesterday we spoke, you and i, about the long years of anti-democratic persecution under the military regime in burma...in order to humanize the depth of the issue this is the first of four personal stories of long-time participatory-democratic advocates who have become prisoners of conscience in myanmar...even a plurality of westerners have heard of aung san suu kyi...
daw aung san suu kyi's political party won the general elections in myanmar in 1990...but, instead of taking her position as national leader, she was kept under house arrest by the military authorities and remains so today...
at 62, aung san suu kyi is the general secretary and a co-founder of myanmar's main opposition party, the national league for democracy (nld)...she was put under house arrest for the first time in july 1989 following the brutal crackdown of the 1988 pro-democracy protests...a year later, her party won the elections by an overwhelming majority...but the military rulers declared the results null and void and continued to deny aung san suu kyi her freedom...
aung san suu kyi is generally not allowed any visitors, and is held in increasing isolation and permitted only infrequent visits by her doctor...her current detention order expires on may 27 2008...she has been detained on and off on since 1989, with extended periods of unofficial detention, house arrest under administrative detention laws and restrictions on her movement...
she has most recently been detained since 30 may 2003, after a violent attack on her and other party members during a trip through upper myanmar...the attack is believed to have been carried out with the involvement of the state and state sponsored civil organizations and still has not been independently investigated...
aung san suu kyi and her entourage were stopped on the road at night between villages near depeyin in a remote part of sagaing division...they were set upon in a violent coordinated attack...men with sharpened bamboo sticks, iron rods and stones, attacked vehicles, pulling individuals out of cars and beating them repeatedly on the head and body...
nld youth members and others attempted to protect the leaders, including aung san suu kyi and her deputy u tin oo...at least four persons were killed, and scores more seriously injured...aung san suu kyi and her security detail escaped, but they were soon taken into detention and held incommunicado...
after the attack, the authorities stated that aung san suu kyi was being held in protective custody and that measures against the detained leaders would be lifted as the situation normalized...they promised in july 2003 that she would be released “when the time comes” and that they were waiting for a “cool down” and in august 2003 urged “let us not call it detention…we don't have any kind of intention of animosity against aung san suu kyi...that is why we have not taken any legal action against her and her party”.
after being held incommunicado in a military camp, aung san suu kyi was transferred to her house in september 2003 and held under de facto house arrest...in november 2003, the authorities handed down a one-year detention order under an administrative detention law that has been regularly extended since...
aung san suu kyi was previously held under house arrest on account of her prominent role in opposition politics between 1989 and 1995, and 2000 to 2002...during her time in house arrest, the authorities twice amended the legislation under which she is held to allow for a longer period of detention without charge or trial...
even when she was not under official house arrest, aung san suu kyi still had her freedom of movement heavily restricted: the authorities blockaded roads, often arrested those seeking to meet her and denied family members, including her critically ill husband, permission to visit the country to see her...
take action now: release all prisoners of conscience and all individuals detained under the crackdown...
tomorrow - the story of u win tin...
peace out <3
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