This news today from Alan Senauke of the Clear View Project (a website to watch for latest developments):
Just as her current house arrest is about to expire, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi — leader of Burma’s opposition party, the National League for Democracy — was taken into custody yesterday at her lakeside home in Rangoon, held to face a special court at the notorious Insein Prison (sic!), along with her doctor Dr. Tin Myo Win and her live-in caretakers, Khin Khin Win and her daughter Win Ma Ma. They are charged with violating security laws specially crafted to control the conditions of Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest. She has been under house arrest for thirteen of the last nineteen years.
Accusations against Aung San Suu Kyi and the others stem from the capture of a 53-year-old American John Yettaw, who apparently swam across Inya Lake to Suu Kyi’s lakeside compound on the night of May 5. NLD sources said Suu Kyi spoke with him, her caretakers gave him some food, and Suu Kyi asked him to leave the premises, but he appears to have spent the night on her property. Security officials believe that Yettaw had made a previous visit to Suu Kyi’s compound in late 2008. Yettaw’s motivations are unknown. A US consular representative talked with him Wednesday in the presence of Burmese intelligence officers. Yettaw will face trial separately on serious charges.
This March, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Suu Kyi’s present detention violates international and Burmese law. Her latest term of confinement was due to expire at the end of this month, and it is clear that the junta has been looking for a legal pretext to keep her in custody. Whatever John Yettaw’s purposes were, the burden will once again fall on Aung San Suu Kyi and her associates, who are now in prison, awaiting trial and oxymoronic Burmese “justice” under a regime of generals and thugs. If found guilty, Aung San Suu Kyi will face three to five years in prison.
At his noon briefing today, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon read this statement:
“The Secretary-General is gravely concerned about the news that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved to the Insein Prison to face criminal charges. The Secretary-General believes that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is an essential partner for dialogue in Myanmar’s national reconciliation and calls on the Government not to take any further action that could undermine this important process. As he has said repeatedly, the Secretary-General believes strongly that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all those who have a contribution to make to the future of their country must be free to be able to do so to ensure that the political process is credible.”
Along with many organizations and people around the world we call on the United Nations and ASEAN immediately to send envoys to Burma demanding the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all Burma’s political prisoners. It is time for the Security Council to act. As Buddhists and lovers of freedom we urge you to encourage our own leaders to bring their influence to bear on Burma. We need to speak with one international voice. Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma must be free. The world is watching.
We will keep you updated as news develops and actions take shape.
Hozan Alan Senauke
For the Clear View Project
For information about Clear View and about our Adopt a Monk program supporting Burmese political prisoners, go to our website: www.clearviewproject.org
