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International Petitions for Daw Suu’s Release

Freedom Now’s Petition on behalf of her family members

A family member of Myanmar's jailed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday filed the first petition with a new UN Human Rights Council challenging her detention by the country's military junta.

The petition was filed just as the Geneva-based council officially took over at 2200 GMT Thursday from the discredited UN Commission on Human Rights, which has been abolished by the world body as part of UN reforms.

It was filed on the relative's behalf by American lawyer Jared Genser, who is also president of Freedom Now, a US-based group striving to free "prisoners of conscience" across the globe.
Freedom Now filed the petition directly to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, a five-member panel of human rights experts led by Algerian judge Leila Zerrougui which will operate under the council.

Freedom Now stated in their petition that: _

Aung San Suu Kyi is currently being held under house arrest in Rangoon, Burma. Ms. Suu Kyi, who has spent more than 10 of the last 16 years in detention, has been held in her Rangoon residence without contact with the outside world for more than three years, with the exception of her recent meeting with UN Under-Secretary-General Ibrahim Gambari. She is denied visitors and has no outside telephone contact. Ms. Suu Kyi was arrested in May 2003 following an assassination attempt known as the Depayin Massacre during which more than seventy of her supporters were murdered. The attack was orchestrated by a group associated with the Union Solidarity Development Association (“USDA”), an organization created by the military regime. Although Ms. Suu Kyi survived the attack, her safety continues to be threatened. First, she is at risk of harm because she is the democratically elected leader of Burma and has been the target of an assassination attempt orchestrated by a government-affiliated group. Second, she is allowed only infrequent and irregular visits from her doctor, thereby placing her at further risk of harm.

Burma Lawyers’ Council requested for her release

The exiled Burma Lawyers’ Council, currently based in Thailand, this week issued an open letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Burma Lawyers’ Council stated in their letter _

The refusal of the Burmese military regime to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi marks the third anniversary of the horrible crimes against humanity that occurred during the Depayin Massacre, the event which precipitated her current detainment. To this day, the Burmese military regime refuses to investigate the massacre, keeping victim Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in detention. In fact, much of the evidence points to high level government involvement in the attack. The refusal to investigate, the detainment of Daw Suu Kyi, and Burma’s lack of an independent judiciary highlight the desperate need for international intervention to bring justice for these crimes. Permitting these heinous crimes to go unpunished is itself a great injustice. Seeking truth and accountability for the Depayin Massacre is a crucial step in the democratization of Burma and the process of securing international peace. Therefore, we ask Secretary-General Annan to propose to the Security Council a resolution referring the Depayin atrocity to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for adjudication.

On the 30 of May, 2003, in the Depayin township of Burma, members of the military regime organized and implemented nearly 5,000 perpetrators to attack the motor tour of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, other leaders of the National League of Democracy and ordinary people, leaving a number of persons dead and missing. Even though murder itself is not on a mass scale, it targeted a broader population and has resulted in intimidating not only the members and supporters of the NLD but also the entire 'civilian population'. The weight of the evidence shows that the junta orchestrated the massacre to silence democracy by producing terror in the hearts and minds of those in opposition to their policies.

The government basis for Daw Suu Kyi’s detainment has no legitimacy and is totally illegal. They alleged that the NLD had some responsibility for the violence, basing the detention on the threat to national security demonstrated by the Depayin violence. Since no investigation, trial or enquiry commission has occurred, the government has no grounds for her extended detainment. However, her detention continues, cut off from the world, in the face of attempts by Under-Secretary-General Ibrahim Gambari and the international community to compel her release. A Depayin investigation will prove that no grounds justify her detainment and press for her release.

Petition by a former Student Leader and BURMA DIGEST

A former student leader Henry Soe Win and BURMA DIGEST are together carrying out a petition for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s release. Our petition reads: _

Following popular mass uprisings in 1988 the military junta held elections in Burma, the National League for Democracy (NLD)led by Aung San Suu Kyi won a stunning landslide victory with 80 percent of the total parliamentary seats on May 27, 1990. Not only did the military junta not honor the results of the 1990 general election, it launched a series of systematic and brutal crackdowns on pro-democracy activists. Elected representatives were not allowed to convene in parliament and many of those elected were arrested, tortured, dismissed, and forced into exile. Aung San Suu Kyi has been forcibly isolated and put on house arrest by the military junta.

Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest for more than 10 of the past 16 years. The peoples of the World honored for her outstanding persistent work to let democratic order be established in Burma. She is the soul of a Nation, despite years of repression, she will not allow the torch of democracy to be extinguished. She is an outstanding example of the efforts by the people of Burma to achieve democracy ... To peoples around the world, she is an example of peaceful opposition to oppression.

Aung San Suu Kyi has had virtually no contact with the outside world since her last detention period began in May 2003. Her house arrest was last extended by six months in December 2005. The continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, members of her NLD political party and others who have peacefully expressed their political views, is without cause and unacceptable. They should be released immediately.

We therefore call upon all freedom-loving peoples of the world, and their governments, and the United Nations, to support by all and every means that may be necessary the removal of the Burmese junta and its replacement by democratic rule.We called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners.

Please click here to sign the petition

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