Thread: Aung San Suu Kyi must be freed this weekend

It's legal, Aung San Suu Kyi must be freed, says US lawyer


By Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Rangoon - Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi must be freed this weekend in accordance with the country's laws, a US lawyer announced Friday.





Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace prize laureate who heads the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party in military-run Burma, has been under house detention since May 2003.



She will have completed five years under house detention on Saturday, which is the legal limit for people deemed a "threat to the sovereignty and security of the State and the peace of the people," according to Jared Genser, president of the US-based Freedom Now Legal Councel to Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma.


Genser's legal memorandum was made available in Rangoon.


Genser, a lawyer, argues that under Burma's Article 10 of the State Protection Law 1975, Suu Kyi must be freed by Sunday as her five-year detention period, extended on an annual basis, ends Saturday.


"Her fifth term of house arrest was last extended by the junta on May 25, 2007, for a period of one year. As a result, her house arrest expires at the end of May 24, 2008," said Genser in a statement.


"Therefore, Ms. Suu Kyi should be released from her final term of house arrest in time to be able to attend the donor conference in Rangoon on Sunday, May 25th," he added.


It is unclear how Burma's ruling junta will deal with the legality Genser has raised, but it is deemed highly unlikely that they will free Suu Kyi at such a sensitive time for the regime.


The government has come under harsh international criticism for impeding an international disaster relief effort for the victims of Cyclone Nargis, that swept over the country's central coastal region on May 2-3, leaving at least 133,000 people dead or missing.


United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who arrived in Burma Thursday to assess the devastation, has estimated that three weeks after the storm aid has reached only 25 per cent of the estimated 2.5 million people affected by the storm, a poor performance blamed primarily on the junta.

On Sunday Ban will chair a donor pledging conference in Rangoon to raise international contributions to the relief and rehabilitation efforts underway while hopefully removing some of the government-made obstacles to the effort.




Let's see

That'll have them quaking in their boots.

This is more likely to get her finally bumped off.

liveeverett.com

. . . or he will sue them?

This ain't Kansas, Dorothy.

They can release her for five minutes, then, arrest her for the next five year stint.

^ But
Jared will be upset if they do . . . and he is a lawyer . . . in Kansas.

Well, I say congratulations to the guy. There is room for Idealism when facing down Dictatorships. This is an example of that and at least he is doing something.

Originally Posted by Sir Burr

They can release her for five minutes, then, arrest her for the next five year stint.

True, but at least it will be done in full view of the world and will undoubtedly stir up more public pressure

But the junta makes and breaks the rules, therefore rendering the application of principles, in this instance, useless.

But yes, BKKAndrew, you are right. At least it keeps the lady in the spotlight.

Rumours of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's release spreads in Rangoon
Saturday, 24 May 2008

New Delhi - Rumours are doing the rounds in Rangoon that Burma's detained pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was released today from house arrest.

Nyan Win, spokesperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi's party, said, "We also heard that she [Aung San Suu Kyi] has been released, but we cannot confirm the information as yet."

While the information cannot be independently verified, the rumours timed with Aung San Suu Kyi's completion of five years of her latest incarceration on Saturday.

"It might only be rumors, because nothing is confirmed as yet," Nyan Win said.

Meanwhile, a source in Rangoon said the pro-democracy leader was taken by the authorities this morning for a tour to Laputta town in the Irrawaddy division to inspect the devastation caused by the deathly Cyclone Nargis.

But contrary to the information, diplomatic sources in Rangoon brush-off the information as false, saying Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been spotted at her lakeside villa in Rangoon.

Local Residents in Laputta, contacted by Mizzima also said they have not seen the Burmese pro-democracy leader coming to their town nor heard of her possible coming.

Burma's Foreign Minister Nyan Win in a press conference earlier indicated that the detained pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San is unlikely to be release until the junta successfully conducts its planned election in 2010.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent more than 12 of the past 18 years, was last arrested in May 2003 after junta-backed thugs attacked her motorcade during a political tour in central Burma.

But at mid-night on May 24, Saturday, she will complete five years of continuous house arrest. An according to Burma's State Protection Law 1975, the house arrest period of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi cannot be extended.

The law says that a person in Burma who is deemed a 'threat to the sovereignty and security of the State and the peace of the people' can be detained for up to a maximum of five years through a restrictive order, but only renewable one year at a time.

However, sources in Rangoon said, there have been no significant movements near Aung San Suu Kyi's resident in Rangoon's University Avenue that could signal any kind of changes or security guards leaving the place.

mizzima.com

never happen. she is an unbelievably powerful icon. fools errand.

*mods please combine this with the "why mercans are so fun to hate thread".

never happen. she is an unbelievably powerful icon. fools errand.

agreed , interesting to watch the rumors spread in lieu of a functioning free press .................

Hope for release of Aung San Suu Kyi


By By Tracy McVeigh in London and a special Burma correspondent
OBSERVER NEWS SERVICE

Representatives of more than 45 governments will meet in Rangoon today (MAY25) to pledge money to help Burma's cyclone survivors, but with tough conditions attached - particularly that the country's military rulers give access to disaster zones and ensure that aid reaches those who need it.



It comes as supporters of the democratically elected leader of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi, have been speculating that the junta is planning an easing of her house arrest conditions or even a release, as part of its concessions to huge international pressure.


The detention order that confined her to a fifth consecutive year of incarceration expired last night.

Three weeks after Cyclone Nargis killed an estimated 134,000 people and left more than two million in the Irrawaddy delta homeless, diplomatic wrangling between the Burmese regime and the international community seemed to be coming to a conclusion with the junta's announcement on Friday that 'all aid workers' would be let in and that small boats would be allowed to deliver medicines and food.

Until now Burma had blocked significant amounts of aid and refused visas to foreign specialists, apparently afraid their presence could loosen the regime's46-year grip on power.

Charities fear they may be 'held to ransom' by Burma, which hopes to see an $11bn aid package pledged today, and say the military government must spell out exactly what its promise meant. 'We have to see that this is transmitted into reality, into practice,' Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said.

'If the agreement given to the secretary-general of the UN cannot be implemented in spirit, then we will have problems delivering assistance.'

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UK's Secretary of State for International Development, Douglas Alexander, will be at today's donor conference.

A senior source in Alexander's department, said the issue of Suu Kyi's continued imprisonment would not be raised. 'It would be inappropriate when the utmost importance is ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid,' he said.

Burmese online publications have carried unconfirmed reports that the Nobel Peace Prize winner's release was imminent, albeit with tight conditions.
Jared Genser, a US-based lawyer representing Suu Kyi's family, said: 'If she is released it is important that this is done without any conditions and that the international community remains vigilant given how many times she has been subsequently rearrested in the past.'

for evil to suceed it takes only that good men stay quiet

i found the burmese to me much more worldly, politically aware and cynical that the thai's. i think all this talk can best be understood as a way of striking back or embarrassing the junta rather than any realistic hope of her release.

us out of iraq...invade burma ffs!

iraqis will embrace democracy...hahaha

burmese...as watdog says, they're cool.

set 'em up and they'll run with it

Originally Posted by good2bhappy

for evil to suceed it takes only that good men stay quiet

under estimating evil is dumb. it has been nearly 50 years since the junta took over. the burmese know the score. we in the west are the fools. we really have no meaningful idea what goes on in the country. wishful thinking by assholes listening to npr as they gas up the suv dont mean dog shit when things are as bad as they are in myanmar.

Originally Posted by Matthew

set 'em up and they'll run with it

i honestly believe they would.
but the usa would find a way to fuck it up.

how's bang na's bitch doing?

he's thong lo's bitch now

there's a new bitch of bang na:

i've fallen behind.

congrats on the upgrade.

(but for us old timers you will forever be the ultimate bitch of bang na. the rest are posers)

i'm glad

from the blog world ................

Aung San Suu Kyi's Sentence expires on May 24th, 2008
Sunday, 25 May 2008

ko-htike.blogspot.com

click on the pages for full size

Myanmar extends Aung San Suu Kyi house arrest
2008-05-27

YANGON, May 27 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar government extended on Tuesday the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), well-informed sources said, without specifying the term period of her extension.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been put under detention and later house arrest for the third time since the Dabayin bloody incident in Sagaing division on May 30, 2003, in which clashes occurred between government supporters and NLD supporters.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, has spent most of the last 18 years under house arrest since July 1989, the first being for nearly six years until July 1995 on charge of endangering security of the state.

The second time was from September 2000 to May 2002 for her defiance of the government's travel restriction by forcing her way to the second largest city of Mandalay.

Editor: Du Guodong

xinhuanet.com

Suu Kyi's house arrest extended





Burma's ruling junta has renewed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest.

Police earlier detained about 20 activists as they marched to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's home in Rangoon, where she has been held since May 2003.

The decision came at a tricky time for the generals, who have been criticised for their response to Cyclone Nargis.

Ms Suu Kyi's party won a resounding election victory in 1990, but she was denied power by the military.

The 62-year-old National League for Democracy (NLD) leader has spent more than 12 of the last 18 years in detention.


Police bundled a number of opposition activists into a truck as they marched on Tuesday from the NLD party headquarters to her lakeside villa in Rangoon.
Correspondents had expected her house arrest - which has been renewed annually - to be rolled over for another year.

Her supporters have argued that she must now legally be either released or put on trial.
Extending her detention will likely provoke further criticism of the junta by an international community already frustrated by the military's handling of the relief effort after Cyclone Nargis.

The cyclone, which struck on 2 May, has left 134,000 people dead or missing and another 2.4m clinging to survival, and donors pledged nearly $50m (£25m) in aid at a landmark summit in Rangoon on Sunday.


The regime has been under fire for stalling foreign aid destined for cyclone victims.

Ms Suu Kyi's detention has long been the cause of friction between the junta and the international community.

Her party used the anniversary to denounce the regime's claim that 93% of voters had endorsed a new military-backed constitution at a recent referendum.

It said the vote was a "sham" that was not free or fair, and claimed the authorities "used coercion, intimidated, deceived, misrepresented and used undue influence" to boost the number of "yes" votes.

The party also denounced the regime for holding the referendum so soon after Cyclone Nargis, saying the ruling generals only considered "power politics and self-interest", not public welfare.


BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Suu Kyi's house arrest extended
...


The powers have be have smart bombs but no balls to use them - such a shame

They could have done away with her and blamed it on the cyclone.
Bet they thought of it!