Myanmar Activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyii Released After 15 Years Under House Arrest

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article882318.ece

Aung San Suu Kyi's life in captivity
Jack Davies* (pseudonym)

AFP HARDLIFE: 'She has sacrificed a lot. But she is used [to it] now.' The lakeside house where Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained.

After 15 years, the Myanmarese opposition leader is expected to be released from house arrest in less than 48 hours.

Every morning Aung San Suu Kyi wakes at 4 a.m. knowing there is nowhere she can go, that there is no prospect she will be allowed outside. Inside the mildewing two-storey villa the Myanmarese (Burmese) junta has made her prison, she meditates, sometimes for hours, before turning her attention to one of five radios tuned to stations around the world.

These distant voices, broadcasts from the BBC, Voice of America, the rebel news service Democratic Voice of Burma, and others, are her only constant link with the outside world. She has no phone, no TV and no internet. Her mail is heavily censored. Often it is not delivered.

She spends her days reading, in Myanmarese and English, philosophy, biographies and novels. John le Carre and Georges Simenon are favourites. She was once a keen pianist, but the muggy heat has warped her piano.

Staff and visitors

But Aung San Suu Kyi is not alone. The 65-year-old Buddhist lives with two long-serving maids, mother and daughter Khin Khin Win and Win Ma Ma, who have been sentenced with their employer for this final stretch of house detention.

Aung San Suu Kyi is allowed few visitors; those who come are strictly vetted, their visits closely monitored. Fresh food is delivered daily. Her family doctor pays a house call once a month.

One of the few people who see her is her lawyer and confidant U Nyan Win, who visits fortnightly. He brings the magazines Time and Newsweek at each visit “because she must know about the news from around the world”. He said: “She has a simple life in her home. But she can never leave. Not even to go outside into the gardens, to the compound. She is always inside. She is healthy, she exercises in her home. And she has strong spirit, she is determined.” The once grand lakeside home at 54 University Avenue, Yangon (Rangoon), a house she inherited from her mother looks every one of its 90-odd years; despite some renovations this year it still needs repairs. The electricity fails regularly. For days following Cyclone Nargis in 2008 she read by candlelight. The villa's gardens, once immaculate, are now overrun by vines. Fifteen years of imprisonment has robbed Aung San Suu Kyi of much.

Family

Her husband, the British academic Michael Aris, died in 1999 of cancer. She could not visit him while he was dying without risking being exiled from her country forever, and the junta refused him an entry visa to Myanmar.

She has not seen her two sons in more than 10 years. She has never met her grandchildren. Every year her sons apply for visas, every year they are rejected without explanation. Until this week. In Bangkok on November 10, her youngest son, Kim Aris, got permission to enter Myanmar; it is not known when he will get to the country.

“It has been a hard life, she has sacrificed a lot. But she is used [to it] now. And she keeps working, waiting for the day she will be released,” said her lawyer.

For all of Burma that day is expected as soon as tomorrow, which is when, according to U Nyan Win, her current sentence expires “and there is no mechanism under Myanmarese law to extend that detention, to keep her under house arrest, they must let her go”. There can be no guarantees from a junta that has detained Aung San Suu Kyi, arbitrarily, three times in two decades, but hints from “unnamed military sources” suggest she will be released.

“I have not been told that she will be released but it is my expectation,” said U Nyan Win, at his law office in Yangon.

Aung San Suu Kyi's final appeal against her sentence was rejected by the Supreme Court and her legal team has been assessing what it means for her liberty. The court's decision is a moot point though; she has almost completed this last sentence.

Spells of freedom

Since 1989, when she was first detained, Aung San Suu Kyi's previous brief spells of freedom have always come with strict conditions from the military. Previously, she has been banned from leaving Yangon, or forced to register with the army whenever going beyond the city. But she always railed against restrictions. In 2000 she spent six days in her car at a military roadblock after being stopped from leaving Rangoon, the stand-off ending when she was put back under house arrest.

Aung San Suu Kyi, once free, will address the Myanmarese people and media, U Nyan Win said. She wants to reinvigorate the National League for Democracy, the party she led to victory at the 1990 election but which has been proscribed by the junta after advocating a boycott of the November 7 poll. All of this is certain to raise the ire of the junta's generals. On past form, theirs and hers, Aung San Suu Kyi's liberty might be short-lived.

She's free!!!

Myanmar democracy leader freed

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi was jailed or under house arrest for more than 15 of the last 21 years.

From the Associated Press

November 13, 2010|3:56 a.m.

YANGON, Myanmar —
Myanmar's military government freed its archrival, democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, on Saturday after her latest term of detention expired. Several thousand jubilant supporters streamed to her residence.

A smiling Suu Kyi, wearing a traditional jacket and a flower in her hair, appeared at the gate of her compound as the crowd chanted, cheered and sang the national anthem.

Speaking briefly in Burmese, she thanked the well-wishers, who quickly swelled to as many as 5,000, and said they would see each other again Sunday at the headquarters of her political party.

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The 65-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate, whose latest period of detention spanned 7 1/2 years, has come to symbolize the struggle for democracy in the Southeast Asian nation ruled by the military since 1962.

The release from house arrest of one of the world's most prominent political prisoners came a week after an election that was swept by the military's proxy political party and decried by Western nations as a sham designed to perpetuate authoritarian control.

Supporters had been waiting most of the day near her residence and the headquarters of her political party. Suu Kyi has been jailed or under house arrest for more than 15 of the last 21 years.

As her release was under way, riot police stationed in the area left the scene and a barbed-wire barricade near her residence was removed, allowing the waiting supporters to surge forward.

Her release was immediately welcomed by several activist groups around the world, and British Prime Minister David Cameron said it was long overdue.

"Aung San Suu Kyi is an inspiration for all of us who believe in freedom of speech, democracy and human rights," he said in a statement.

Critics allege the Nov. 7 elections were manipulated to give the pro-military party a sweeping victory. Results have been released piecemeal and already have given the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party a majority in both houses of Parliament.

The last elections in 1990 were won overwhelmingly by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, but the military refused to hand over power and instead clamped down on opponents.

Suu Kyi was convicted last year of violating the terms of her previous detention by briefly sheltering an American man who swam uninvited to her lakeside home, extending a period of continuous detention that began in 2003 after her motorcade was ambushed in northern Myanmar by a government-backed mob.

Suu Kyi has shown her mettle time and again since taking up the democracy struggle in 1988.

Having spent much of her life abroad, she returned home to take care of her ailing mother just as mass demonstrations were breaking out against 25 years of military rule. She was quickly thrust into a leadership role, mainly because she was the daughter of Aung San, who led Myanmar to independence from Britain before his assassination by political rivals.

She rode out the military's bloody suppression of street demonstrations to help found the NLD. Her defiance gained her fame and honor, most notably the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.

Charismatic, tireless and outspoken, her popularity threatened the country's new military rulers. In 1989, she was detained on trumped-up national security charges and put under house arrest. She was not released until 1995 and has spent various periods in detention since then.

Suu Kyi's freedom had been a key demand of Western nations and groups critical of the military regime's poor human rights record. The military government, seeking to burnish its international image, had responded previously by offering to talk with her, only to later shy away from serious negotiations.

Suu Kyi -- who was barred from running in this month's elections -- plans to help probe allegations of voting fraud, according to Nyan Win, who is a spokesman for her party, which was officially disbanded for refusing to reregister for this year's polls.

Such action, which could embarrass the junta, poses the sort of challenge the military has reacted to in the past by detaining Suu Kyi.

Awaiting her release in neighboring Thailand was the younger of her two sons, Kim Aris, who is seeking the chance to see his mother for the first time in 10 years. Aris lives in Britain and has been repeatedly denied visas.

Her late husband, British scholar Michael Aris, raised their sons in England. Their eldest son, Alexander Aris, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on his mother's behalf in 1991 and reportedly lives in the United States.

Michael Aris died of cancer in 1999 at age 53 after having been denied visas to see his wife for the three years before his death. Suu Kyi could have left Myanmar to see her family but decided not to, fearing the junta would not allow her back in.

Breaking: Ang San Suu Kyi freed
Kenneth Denby Rangoon - The London Times
29 minutes ago

Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained Burmese democracy leader, was today released from house arrest. After days of intense hope and expectation the Nobel Peace Prize winner appeared outside her lakeside home as a crowd of over 1,200 of her supporters chanted her name and celebrated her release...

http://www.ndtv.com/album/detail/freedom-for-aung-san-suu-kyi-8577

Aung San Suu Kyi released from house arrest

The military authorities in Burma have released the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi hours after an order for her release was signed by Myanmar's ruling generals.

Earlier on Friday, hundreds of supporters had gathered at her political party headquarters and near her residence in anticipation.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/album/detail/freedom-for-aung-san-suu-kyi-8577?cp

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11749661

13 November 2010
Updated at 06:34 ET

Burma releases Aung San Suu Kyi

Supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon (13 November 2010) Ms Suu Kyi's supporters gathered at her home in anticipation of her release

The military authorities in Burma have released the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

She has appeared in front of a crowd of her supporters who rushed to her house in Rangoon when nearby barricades were removed by the security forces.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years.

Earlier, Ms Suu Kyi's lawyer warned that she was highly unlikely to accept a conditional release if it excluded her from political activity.

The government has restricted her travel and freedom to associate during previous brief spells of liberty, and demanded she quit politics.

She was originally due to be released from house arrest last year, but a case involving an American who swam across Inya Lake to her home, claiming he was on a mission to save her, prompted the latest detention.

Last Sunday, the political party supported by the military government won the country's first election in 20 years. The ballot was widely condemned.

Since Saturday morning, crowds of people had been waiting anxiously for news of Ms Suu Kyi's fate near her home and the headquarters of her now-banned National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Many wore T-shirts

By late afternoon, a stand-off had developed between armed riot police and several hundred people who had gathered on the other side of the security barricade blocking the road leading to her lakeside home. Some of them later sat down in the road in an act of defiance.

As tensions rose, reports came in at about 1700 (1030 GMT) that the security forces had started removing the barricade.

Soon after, official cars were seen entering the compound, and unnamed officials then said that the release order had been read to Ms Suu Kyi.

Hundreds of people then surged forward and rushed towards her home to greet her.

Ms Suu Kyi then appeared on a platform at the gate of her compound, wearing a traditional lilac dress. The crowd chanted, cheered and sang the national anthem.

"There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk. People must work in unison. Only then can we achieve our goal," she told the crowd.

She then returned inside her home along with senior NLD officials.

Her lawyer, Nyan Win, earlier said that if she was freed without conditions, she would meet with the NLD's central committee, members of the media and the public once she was freed.

He noted that after earlier detentions, she always visited the Shwedagon pagoda, one of the most sacred sites in Burma.

Ms Suu Kyi will address her supporters at the NLD's headquarters at noon Saturday, party officials said.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said her release had been "long overdue", describing her detention had been a "travesty".

"Aung San Suu Kyi is an inspiration for all of us who believe in freedom of speech, democracy and human rights."

The decision by Burma's ruling generals to release Ms Suu Kyi follows the elections on Sunday.

Earlier this week, state media announced that partial results showed that the biggest military-backed party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), had secured a majority in both houses of parliament.

The USDP had won 190 of the 219 seats so far declared in the 330-seat lower House of Representatives, and 95 of 107 seats in the 168-seat upper House of Nationalities, the reports said.

Those elected included the leader of the USDP, Prime Minister Thein Sein, who retired from the military as a general in April to stand.

The junta has said the election marks the transition from military rule to a civilian democracy, but the opposition, many Western governments and human rights groups have said the election was neither free nor fair.

The NLD - which won the last election in 1990 but was never allowed to take power - was ordered to dissolve after refusing to take part.

A quarter of seats in the two new chambers of parliament will be reserved for the military. Any constitutional change will require a majority of more than 75% - meaning that the military will retain a casting vote.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1113/burma.html

Aung San Suu Kyi released from house arrest

Updated: 11:46, Saturday, 13 November 2010

Pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi has been released from house arrest in Burma.

Pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi has been released from house arrest in Burma.

The development came after military authorities removed barricades from the front of her home.

Amnesty International said she has been allowed to walk to freedom from house arrest amid massive cheers from supporters.

Ms Suu Kyi is reported to have told the crowd: 'We must work together in unison to achieve our goal.'

There has been no official comment on her release from her party or the government.

Reuters reported that Ms Suu Kyi met with a lawyer and a doctor inside her home before she left her lakeside house.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention.

The authorities have increased security on the streets of Rangoon.

Ms Suu Kyi, who is 65, was not expected to accept any order banning her from political activity.

'Her house arrest expires today, so we think she will be released today,' Nyan Win, a lawyer for Ms Suu Kyi told Reuters earlier.

Once freed, he said, Ms Suu Kyi would meet the leaders of her National League for Democracy before deciding her next step.

Analysts said it was likely only Senior General Than Shwe, a central figure in the country's military junta, and his closest allies knew the next steps for Ms Suu Kyi.

Freeing the pro-democracy leader could divert some attention from an election held last week, won by the army-backed party, which has widely dismissed as a sham to cement military power under a facade of democracy.

Ms Suu Kyi was just a few weeks away from being released last year when an unexpected visit by an American intruder, John Yettaw, robbed her of her freedom.

She was found guilty of harbouring Mr Yettaw for two days, which breached a 1970s law protecting the state against 'subversive elements'.

Cameron welcomes long overdue release

British Prime Minister David Cameron said the release was 'a travesty' and long overdue.

'Aung San Suu Kyi is an inspiration for all of us who believe in freedom of speech, democracy and human rights,' he added.

Burma Action Ireland welcomed the release of Ms Suu Kyi, but warned that 'by itself, this does not mean that the military are serious about reform and democracy.'

Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty said: 'While Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's release is certainly welcome, it only marks the end of an unfair sentence that was illegally extended, and is by no means a concession on the part of the authorities.

'The fact remains that authorities should never have arrested her or the many other prisoners of conscience in Burma in the first place, locking them out of the political process.'

He said it was now important the authorities ensured her security and 'put an end to the ongoing injustice of political imprisonment in the country'.

There are more than 2,200 political prisoners in Burma still held under vague laws frequently used to criminalise peaceful political dissent, according to human rights campaigners.

Ms Suu Kyi lived in England while she raised her two sons with her late husband, British scholar Michael Aris, who died of prostate cancer in 1999 at the age of 53.

Her younger son Kim, 33, who lives in the UK and has not seen his mother in ten years, is currently in Bangkok, Thailand.

Her eldest son is understood to live in the US.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/11/13/world/asia/AP-AS-Myanmar-Suu-Kyi.html...

Burmese Dissident Suu Kyi Freed After Long Detention
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 13, 2010

Filed at 6:25 a.m. EST

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's military government freed its archrival, democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, on Saturday after her latest term of detention expired. Several thousand jubilant supporters streamed to her residence.

A smiling Suu Kyi, wearing a traditional jacket, appeared at the gate of her compound as the crowd chanted, cheered and sang the national anthem.

The 65-year-old Noble Peace Prize laureate, whose latest period of detention spanned 7 1/2 years, has come to symbolize the struggle for democracy in the Southeast Asian nation ruled by the military since 1962.

The release from house arrest of one of the world's most prominent political prisoners came a week after an election that was swept by the military's proxy political party and decried by Western nations as a sham designed to perpetuate authoritarian control.

Supporters had been waiting most of the day near her residence and the headquarters of her political party. Suu Kyi has been jailed or under house arrest for more than 15 of the last 21 years.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's military regime has freed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi after the expiration of her latest detention period.

The release from house arrest Saturday of one of the world's most prominent political prisoners comes a week after elections that were swept by the pro-military party and decried by Western nations as a sham.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has come to symbolize democracy in a country ruled by the military since 1962.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AB1UI20101113
Facts about Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi

Sat Nov 13, 2010 3:14am EST

(Reuters) - Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of Myanmar's fight against military dictatorship, is scheduled to be released from house arrest on Saturday, just days after a military-backed party won the first election in two decades.

Here are some facts about Suu Kyi, who went from being an housewife in England to a Nobel peace prize laureate incarcerated for 15 of the last 21 years because of her fight for democracy in the former Burma.

-- Born in Rangoon (now Yangon) in June 1945, she is daughter of General Aung San, an independence hero assassinated in 1947. Her mother, Khin Kyi, was also a prominent figure.

-- She studied politics in New Delhi and philosophy, politics and economics at Britain's Oxford University. In 1972, she married British academic Michael Aris.

-- Suu Kyi returned to Yangon in April 1988 to take care of her dying mother at a time of countrywide pro-democracy protests against the army regime. Keen to continue her father's legacy, she entered politics and helped set up the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, becoming its secretary-general and calling for an end to military rule.

-- The junta placed the charismatic and popular Suu Kyi under house arrest in July 1989 for "endangering the state." The next year, even without her, the NLD won 392 of 485 parliamentary seats in Myanmar's first election in almost 30 years. The military refused to relinquish power.

-- Suu Kyi, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, has been in prison or under house arrest off and on for 15 years since 1989.

-- Her husband died in Britain in 1999. Suu Kyi declined an offer from the junta to go to Britain for his funeral, fearing she would not be allowed back if she left.

-- She was initially freed in 1995, but was not allowed to travel outside Yangon to meet supporters. A pro-junta gang attacked a convoy carrying Suu Kyi, top party officials and supporters near Depayin town in 2003. The junta said four people were killed. Rights groups said as many as 70 were killed in the ambush. She was detained again soon after.

- She was found guilty on August 11, 2009, of breaking a security law by allowing American intruder John Yettaw to stay at her lakeside home for two nights. Critics said the charges were trumped up to stop her from having any influence over the polls.

-- She has since made several offers to the junta to lobby the international community to lift a wide range of sanctions on the country, most of which have been in place for more than two decades. Junta strongman Than Shwe never responded and the regime described her move as "insincere" and "dishonest."

-- Suu Kyi's said she "would not dream" of taking part in last Sunday's election and her NLD boycotted the vote. As a result, the party was officially dissolved.

- A breakaway NLD faction did contest, but won only a handful of seats.

(Compiled by Bangkok Newsroom; Editing by Robert Birsel and Ron Popeski)