‘‘Like the South African leader Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi has become an international symbol of heroic and peaceful resistance in the face of oppression.’’
~ online BBC

See
her BBC Profile.
And, another write-up.

Be warned: In her country of Burma/Myanmar, having her photo in your pocket can put you in jail.

RAÚL HERNÁNDEZ/OPIM - Mexico

Indigenous peoples’s rights activist Raúl Hernández has been in prison since April 2008 when he was charged with murder - a crime he did not commit. We believe the case against him is spurious, brought in reprisal for his legitimate activities promoting the rights of the community and exposing abuses by a local political figure and local authorities.

Raúl Hernández is a member of the Me'phaa Indigenous People's Organisation (OPIM ) which defends and promotes the rights of the Me'phaa (Tlapanecas) people. Many of its members have been subjected to a campaign of harassment and intimidation. Raúl Hernández is a prisoner of conscience and he must be immediately and unconditionally released.

UPDATE: 21 JANUARY 2010 To prevent them from doing their work, human rights defenders in Mexico just like Raúl have been killed, attacked, harassed, threatened and imprisoned on fabricated charges.

A new report highlights how the Mexican government is failing to protect human rights defenders and calls for urgent action to make sure they are safe.

A Prisoner of Conscience: Someone imprisoned because of their race, ethnicity, sex, economic status, religion, or national origin, or for peacefully expressing their political beliefs.

Focus Action: Local Group 361 acts on many cases in a month, usually moving on to different cases the next month. However, the group follows one or two cases each month until their conclusion. The first case may be one that the entire Northeast region works on. Traditionally, these cases involve a Prisoner of Conscience. Now that the group is also giving special attention to Mexico and Central America’s human rights issues, sometimes it acts on a second focus case from those areas.

AUNG SAN SUU KYI

Local Group 361 has adopted Aung San Suu Kyii twice. Each time, she was being held under house arrest in the Union of Myanmar, also known as Burma. In the late 80’s when Group 361 first worked to free her, it met with success. In 1989 she was released after an imprisonment of 19 months under de facto house arrest. However, in 1990, when she became the freely elected prime minister of Burma, or Union of Myanmar, she was prevented from taking office by yet another house arrest. As the group adopted her case again in November, 2009, she had been detained for about 14 of the past 20 years.

Aung San Suu Kyii was born in Burma to a father who was a national hero for negotiating independence from Britain. He died when she was two years old and months before Burma gained its 1948 independence. Years later, in 1962, a General Ne Win overthrew the Union of Burma democratic government and created a military dictatorship.

In the 1960’s Suu Ky finished her formal education in a British college where she studied philosophy, politics and economics and met and married her husband, a British don. She bore him two sons.

In 1988, she returned to her native country of Burma to look after her ill mother. At that time pro-democracy protestors were uprising against the Burmese government’s economic mismanagement and political oppression. As the daughter of independence hero General Aung San, Ms. Suu Kyii attracted the attention of the pro-democracy protestors. She commented that ‘‘I could not, as my father's daughter remain indifferent to all that was going on.’’^[1] Thus Suu Kyi evolved as the leader of the political party, Nataional League for Democracy. She adopted the non-violence tactics of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King and India’s Mahatma Gandhi as she organized rallies and spoke to her countrymen. Another group from within the military overthrew General Ne Win ’s government with a junta in September of 1988. This new government kept Suu Kyii under house arrest, which continues today with only a few periods of respite.

When the new military government called for national elections in May of 1990, the NLD won the majority of elected offices with Aung San Suu Kyii freely elected as Prime Minister. The ruling military junta ignored the people’s wishes, annualling the election results. Those who had won election were arrested, and numerous protestors were killed.

During her periods of imprisonment and freedom, the military junta trampled on human rights. They violently squashed many pro-democracy protests. Many organizations besides Amnesty International report the prevalence of forced labor, child soldiers, and human trafficking as well as other human rights abuses under the junta.

Today, she and other political prisoners are impacted by new laws in Myanmar that Amnesty International opposes. These laws prevent all political prisoners from belonging to a political party. ‘‘There are at least 2,200 political prisoners in Myanmar, most imprisoned because they tried to exercise their rights peacefully,’’^[2] said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’s Myanmar researcher. Even before the new laws, Aung San Suu Kyi could not run for election because the Union of Myanmar’s 2008 constitution prevents anyone with a marriage to a foreign national from being a candidate.

A recent report from Amnesty International documented the government’s systematic efforts to silence activists from the country’s large ethnic minority population. The report can be found on the Amnesty International website at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/myanmar-urged-end-repression-ethnic-minorities-elections-20100216.

During her detention, Ms. Sung Kyi continues to advocate for peaceful changes within her country. Consequently, she has gained international recognition. Many organizations have given her awards. As she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the chair of the award committe, Francis Sejested, called her ’’an outstanding example of the power of the powerless.’’ ^[3].

In July, 2009 U2’s Lead singer Bono announced Amnesty International’s decision to give her their Ambassador of Conscience Award. Bono himself has recognized her courage and work with his award winning song ’’Walk On ’’ written in her honor. He not only sings her praises, but he speaks them on this webpage with many links to her story and supports.

As of May 16, 2010 Suu Kyi remains under house arrest in Rangoon, unable to see family or friends. Efforts to free her continue. Learn more about Amnesty International’s effort to free her in this action page.

If you want to help her become free, you may adapt and sign a pre-written letter from our Letters page.

You may yourself hear Ms Suu Kyi speak in a video link here.

You can hear Bono’s song of tribute in this video:

QUOTES
^{1 & 3} http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1950505.stm
² http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/myanmar-opposition-must-be-free-fight-elections-2010-03-10

SOURCES
• http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/myanmar-opposition-must-be-free-fight-elections-2010-03-10
• http://www.amnestyusa.org/all-countries/myanmar-burma/page.do?id=1011205
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1950505.stm
• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bm.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma
  

Past Focus Actions

Our first adopted prisoner, Abel Ayedoun, was freed from prison in Benin two weeks after the first of our 2,000 letters began arriving. ~ Our second adopted prisoner, Levon Ter Petroysian was freed from prison in the Soviet Union, shortly after we adopted him, and subsequently served as president of Armenia.

Another of our adopted prisoners won her own Nobel Peace Prize, but has lost her freedom once again. In the late 1980’s, Group 361 was fortunate to see its efforts rewarded when pro-Democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyii was released after an imprisonment of 19 months under de facto house arrest. At that time, her release represented a very positive development in the human rights situation in Myanmar. In 1990, she became the freely elected prime minister of Burma, Myanmar, but was prevented from taking office by a house arrest. By 2008, Aung San Suu Kyi had been detained for 12 of the past 18 years. You may read about her current situation from this action page. You may see an interview with her during a period of time that she was free by clicking here. You may also be interested in a video summing up some of the issues under the repressive regime in Burma, or My

Ngawang Sangdrol, the Tibetan nun held by the Chinese for wanting freedom for Tibet, our Prisoner of Conscience in 2001-2002, was released by the Chinese in October of 2002. A Tibetan Buddhist nun, she was jailed for singing freedom songs at age 15. She was released from the Drap Chi prison in Lhasa, Tibet in October 2002, after serving 10 years and placed under house arrest. On March 28, 2003 Ngawang arrived in the U.S. for medical treatment of ‘‘severe and long-lasting headaches’&rsquo from beatings in prison. See her in this video.

In June 2004 , Group 361 saw Leyla Zana’s release from a Turkish prison. Several years before, as a new member of the Turkish parliament, Leyla Zana had taken her oath of office wearing a headband with Turkish colors with her conservative black business suit. Further, while taking her oath of office, she spoke one sentence in Kurdish, saying ‘‘I take this oath for the brotherhood between the Turkish people and the Kurdish people.’’^[4]. Both the colored headband and the Kurdish words led to her later arrest when her term ended. During her years in prison she continued to write in defense of her Kurdish people, winning recognition for her work for human rights.  While she was confined, individuals and organizations around the world protested the unfair trial that kept her detained. Her freedom came after several years of imprisonment and worldwide appeals. To learn more about Leyla, click to see this video.

For most of 2007, Group 361 of the Albany, NY region joined A.I.'s entire Northeast Region in working on the case of Dr. Mesfin Woldemariam, one of Ethiopia's most prominent human rights defenders. Dr. Mesfin was jailed after his peaceful participation in protests at Addis Ababa University, where he is a professor of geography. He and the other protestors called for an investigation into irregularities in Ethiopia's 2005 parlimentary elections. At 77 years old, he was held in poor conditions without access to medical treatment for almost eighteen months. Finally, in August 2007, the situation looked bleak as he and his co-defendents were sentenced to death. Then suddenly he was released by the government, vindicating the efforts of thousands who campaigned on his behalf. Amnesty International continues to have a number of concerns about human rights in Ethiopia, you can read about them here.

For most of 2008 into 2009, Group 361 of the Albany, NY region joined A.I.'s entire Northeast Region in working on the case of Fathi el Jahmi An advocate of political reform for Libya, he was detained for ‘‘speaking truth to power’‘ as Vice President Joe Biden has commented. In televised and published speeches Fathi called for reform. For the last months of his life, Libyan authorities denied the requests of Fathi’s family that ailing Fathi el Jahmi be released to their care. When Fathi’s death was near, the Libyan authorities tranferred him to a Jordanian hospital where his life ended. He was technically freed, but the questions surrounding his deah continue. Read more about him here. Remembrances of Fathi continue on his Facebook page.

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⁴ http://www.democracynow.org/2004/6/10/kurdish_political_prisoner_leyla_zana_released

Thank you for your interest.

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Page updated  Sunday, November 8, 2009