Burma
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Burmese video journalist given 13 years in jail - Committee to Protect Journalists
New York, February 11, 2011--Burma's new government under Prime Minister Thein Sein must put an end to the former military junta's despicable policy of imprisoning independent journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The most recent case to come to light is the 13-year sentencing of Maung Maung Zeya in a trial held within Insein Prison on February 4. Staff at the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), for which the journalist worked, confirmed the decision to CPJ. Maung Maung Zeya was convicted for contacting Burmese exiled media and violating the Electronics Act.
Burma’s government ordered more than 80 people at a shelter for patients with HIV and AIDS to leave following a visit by newly freed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the center’s organizers said Saturday. Suu Kyi, released a week ago from seven years under house arrest, visited the shelter on the outskirts of Yangon on Wednesday, promising to provide it with badly needed medicines. She also addressed a crowd of more than 600 who came to see her. A day after her visit, government officials told patients they would have to leave by next week or face legal action because the center’s permit was not being renewed, said Phyu Phyu Thin, a pro-democracy activist who founded the operation. By law, home owners must seek government permission every two weeks to allow visitors to stay overnight. “We have been allowed to renew our resident permits in the past.
Burma patients face eviction after Suu Kyi visit | Asian Correspondent
Aung San Suu Kyi said yesterday that she had been listening to the radio for so long, it was good to hear some real human voices. It was good also to hear her voice, after the last seven years of house arrest. Her unconditional release was expected to have caused a dilemma for the military junta which repressed it for so long. It may still do so, but her first words in liberty may have also prompted those who campaigned for her release to rethink their tactics as well. She called for national reconciliation, including an honest dialogue with those who jailed her.
Aung San Suu Kyi's release: A challenge for all | Comment is free | The Guardian
Supporters flood the streets to welcome Aung San Suu Kyi at party headquarters | World news | The Guardian
At the front of the headquarters of the National League for Democracy hangs a massive portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi . For most of this decade, that is all the people of Burma have had of her, this best-known picture of "The Lady", head turned to camera, eyes set in a determined stare. But today, after seven long years of house arrest at the hands of Burma's military junta, she was back, standing before her own portrait: the same steel in her eye, but with a voice that urged reconciliation, unity, and an eye towards the future, not the past.
Posted by Marc | 6-07-2009 22:10 | Category: Human rights Most heard opinion why Obama won the presidential election last year is because of the effective use of social media. True.
Shepard Fairey portraits Aung San Suu Kyi - Osocio, Social Advertising and Non-profit Campaigns
Newly freed Burmese democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi is offering an olive branch to the country's military regime that kept her confined for most of the last two decades. In an exclusive interview with VOA, the 65-year-old Nobel Peace laureate said she and her supporters "are certainly not bent on clashing" with the military rulers. She added, "We hope very much that the regime will understand that clashing is not a solution to Burma's problems."
VOA | Aung San Suu Kyi Seeks Reconciliation With Military Rulers | News | English
Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi addressed thousands of supporters today and insisted she bears no grudge against the military junta which held her captive for 15 years. The 65-year-old was freed yesterday by the country's military rulers and was greeted by a vast crowd of cheering people outside the headquarters of the National League for Democracy in Rangoon. The veteran human rights campaigner, who has been detained for 15 of the last 21 years, championed free speech and urged supporters not to give up hope. It came after the country's first elections in 20 years, which handed victory to the pro-military party but were condemned as a sham by critics. Ms Suu Kyi's NLD party won the election in 1990, but was never allowed to take power. She had been largely under house arrest or in prison since.
Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi: Thousands turn out for her release | Mail Online
World leaders and human rights groups have reacted with joy at the release from house arrest of Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won the election in 1990 but was never allowed to take power. She has been under house arrest or in prison almost continually ever since. No official announcement was given but in the late morning on Saturday, her release papers were delivered to her house and she emerged to huge celebrations - the cheers were so loud she was unable to address the crowds for about half an hour. Ms Suu Kyi told the crowd there was "a time to be quiet and a time to talk", and that she would visit the now-disbanded NLD at their headquarters on Sunday. Working with the opposition leaders who thought she was wrong to opt out of last week's elections, certainly - but working with the generals who run this country and who have kept her prisoner so long, that's going to be very hard indeed.
