Aung San Suu Kyi – Myanmar (Burma)
The military rulers of Myanmar have jailed thousands of people in their continuing efforts to crush all dissenting views. Most prominent of those detained is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been the beacon of hope and change for two decades in Myanmar, the Southeast Asian nation formerly known as Burma.
Aung San Suu Kyi co-founded the National League for Democracy (NLD), a pro-democracy political party that sought to counter the military junta that had reigned over Myanmar since 1962. In 1990, the NLD won almost 80% of the parliamentary seats in a general election. Surprised at the landslide victory, the military junta refused to transfer power to Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD, and jailed scores of political activists. Aung San Suu Syi has spent 14 of the last 20 years under some form of detention. She was recently sentenced to 18 more months of house arrest.
Authorities in Myanmar have justified the imprisonment of hundreds of students, politicians, doctors, lawyers, housewives, farmers and others on the basis that they were seeking to cause "unrest." Such arrests have been made possible by laws that allow an excessively wide interpretation of what constitutes a threat to security.
Amnesty International seeks the immediate and unconditional release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience in Myanmar.
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