Wednesday August 19, 2009, 1:22 pm
As you probably know, a court recently ruled that opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, will face an additional 18 months under house arrest. Amnesty International believes that this verdict is shameful and only adds to the already long list of the military junta's crimes.

While the court could have sentenced Suu Kyi up to 5 years imprisonment, the international community should not regard the shorter sentence as an act of leniency by Myanmar's government.

Suu Kyi should have never been imprisoned in the first place.

Suu Kyi is the most prominent of over 2,100 political prisoners detained in Myanmar. Many are held in poor conditions, and are at risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

Background Information on 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 20 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. 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 labour in Kayin State. This resulted in over 3,500 refugees fleeing to Thailand.

Access to medical treatment is severely limited. Many prisoners are denied adequate food and are therefore malnourished.

Judicial proceedings show no regard for due process, and many trials have been held in special closed courts. Since October 2008, when the government began sentencing en masse those who had peacefully taken part in major anti-government protests in August and September 2007, more than 350 political activists have been jailed.

Some of these political activists have been given lengthy jail terms –- one being sentenced to 104 years in November 2008, while 23 others were sentenced to 65 years.

Ten individual cases highlighted below represent the unending political repression in Myanmar in the last two decades.

All ten individuals are prisoners of conscience, meaning that they have been imprisoned solely on account of their political, religious or other conscientiously held beliefs, ethnic origin, sex, colour, language, national or social origin, economic status, birth, sexual orientation or other status –- who have not used violence, or advocated violence or hatred.

U Saw Naing Naing and U Soe Han
Elderly prisoners of conscience, U Saw Naing Naing and U Soe Han, were sentenced to 21 years’ imprisonment each in 2000 for publishing a statement that urged the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. They are being held in Insein Prison in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. On 12 June 2009, it was learned that U Saw Naing Naing and U Soe Han, together with three other political prisoners, had been moved to specials punishment cells, known as “dog cells.” A “dog cell” is a space to keep military/prison dogs.

1988 Generation Students Group – Htay Kywe, Mie Mie and Zaw Htet Ko Ko
Activists Htay Kywe, Mie Mie and Zaw Htet Ko Ko were arrested in the hunt for the people behind the major anti-government protests that began in August 2007. Htay Kywe and Mie Mie are now serving 65 years in prison while Zaw Htet Ko Ko has been jailed for 11 years. All three are members of a pro-democracy group, the 88 Generation Students.

Khaing Kaung San
Human rights activist Khaing Kaung San fled political persecution in Myanmar for Thailand in the 1990s, where he was granted asylum, but he was forcibly returned in 2000 and sentenced to ten years in prison. Khaing Kaung San, an ethnic Arakanese, was a well-known political dissident and human rights activist who had worked closely with groups providing support to other Arakanese people living in exile in Thailand.

U Win Htein
U Win Htein, a senior assistant to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is serving a 14-year prison sentence. He was imprisoned in 1996 for organizing the collection of information about agricultural productivity that the government deemed to be sensitive, and for helping three foreign journalists report on prison conditions for political prisoners in Myanmar. He is in poor health.

Myo Min Zaw and Ko Aye Aung
Student activists Myo Min Zaw and Ko Aye Aung were arrested on 14 September 1998 for distributing leaflets and organizing student demonstrations in Yangon. Both men were leading members of the banned All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU). Myo Min Zaw and Ko Aye Aung are serving sentences totalling 52 years and 45 years respectively. They were reported to have been tortured during interrogation.

Zarganar
Popular comedian Zarganar is serving a 35-year prison sentence for leading a movement that collected money and supplies for the survivors of Cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar on 2-3 May 2008.

He was arrested on 4 June 2008, after he criticised the government’s handling of the cyclone relief situation in interviews with foreign journalists. Zarganar, who had joined the 1988 uprising against military rule, had been previously arrested for his pro-democracy efforts. .

To take action:
Release Burmese Unjust Political Detainees

Release-daw-aung-san-suu-kyi-and-myanmars-political-prisoners

Namaste! and thank you most gratefully....~~janetsol~xo

Wednesday August 19, 2009, 2:41 pm
Signed Thanks Janet

Wednesday August 19, 2009, 2:58 pm
Done !

Wednesday August 19, 2009, 3:28 pm
Actions taken. Thanks Janet..

Message sent. Thank you for taking action.

Thank you for speaking out to provide hope and improve the lives of prisoners of conscience and other individuals as risk.

We appreciate your support in calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Wednesday August 19, 2009, 3:29 pm

Thank you so much for promoting these actions, Janet!

Wednesday August 19, 2009, 3:39 pm
I love her and i know she helps us all even imprisoned, she helps bring the balance to the divine feminine and I AM in gratitude for that. WE love you Suu!!!!!!

Thx Janet, you shine my friend!:):):)

Wednesday August 19, 2009, 5:49 pm



Aung San Suu Kyi

Her name is Aung San Suu Kyi
they tried to silence her voice
but she speak so loud now
that they have to lock her up again.

Her name is Aung San Suu Kyi
but they dare not let her be free
for the freedoms she stands for
would end their tyranny instantly.

Her name is Aung San Suu Kyi
and they have locked her away
for no crime but telling the truth
and for this truth, she'll never be free

Her name is Aung San Suu Kyi
they tried to silence her voice
but she speak so loud now
for we all have become her voice.

David © 20th August 2009

Wednesday August 19, 2009, 8:50 pm
Thanks Janet, and signed Petition

Thursday August 20, 2009, 1:07 am
Thanks Janet,
we must not rest until Aung San Suu Kyi is free!
Free all political prisoners! Free Burma!
http://www.care2.com/news/member/140535861?sort=submitted

Thursday August 20, 2009, 3:17 am
Thannxxx... This government is afraid of the truth as it is the truth that will set this country free. They would rathr have them sitting in the darkness, so that they can continue to fill their pockets

Thursday August 20, 2009, 6:38 am
Thx Janet. Signed. What a way to have to live. And thanx Ben for all your efforts to keep this issue on top.

Thursday August 20, 2009, 7:23 am
Thx Janet, there was so much hush hush about this I had no idea why she was imprisoned in the first place. Thanks for bringing it to light. :)

Thursday August 20, 2009, 10:16 am
Signed & noted,,

I have been following this for years..
Thank you Janet..the more that post these stories..the more people will know about it..

And Ben..thank you for all you do..always..

Thursday August 20, 2009, 12:44 pm
Thank you for speaking out to provide hope and improve the lives of prisoners of conscience and other individuals as risk.
Posted on my Twitter page >http://twitter.com/babar2
Thank you Janet

Friday August 21, 2009, 12:42 am
Thanks Janet and signed.

Sunday August 23, 2009, 6:01 am
Avaaz.Org. Democracy Campaigning in Burma:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/burma_report_back/