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Inspiration for U2's "Walk On" Refuses to be Released Until All Those Arrested with Her Also Released
By AYE AYE WIN, Associated Press Writer
YANGON, Myanmar - Detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will not accept freedom until all those arrested with her five months ago are released, a U.N. human rights envoy said Saturday.
The Nobel Peace laureate is under house arrest. Her detention began after a bloody clash in northern Myanmar on May 30 between her supporters and a pro-junta mob.
U.N. Envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said 35 people remain in jail in connection with the May incident. In addition there are eight senior officials of her National League for Democracy party held under house arrest, he said.
The U.N. envoy said Suu Kyi told him that "she will not accept any privilege or freedom of movement before all the people detained since May 30 including her eight colleagues (are) released."
Pinheiro met with Suu Kyi at her lakeside home Thursday during his weeklong mission to investigate human rights in the military-ruled country.
After the May clash, Suu Kyi was detained at an undisclosed location under emergency security laws. She was later allowed to go to her Yangon residence, which she apparently remained unable to leave. But Pinheiro said he was told by authorities that she is "not held under any security law." The government has not publicly confirmed this.
It was not clear if that meant Suu Kyi was free to leave her home or whether she was being held under some non-security law.
"She wants an independent investigation of the (May 30) incident. She wants accountability and justice but not revenge," Pinheiro said.
Pinheiro has been the only person allowed to meet with Suu Kyi other than U.N. special envoy to Myanmar, Razali Ismail, and Red Cross officials.
Her detention has provoked widespread international criticism of the junta, which has refused to give up the power it seized in 1988 despite calling elections in 1990 and losing them to Suu Kyi's party.
Razali initiated reconciliation talks between Suu Kyi and the junta in October 2000 but the process ground to a halt after the May 30 incident in which dozens of opposition members are said to have been killed, according to dissident accounts. The government says only four people died.
Pinheiro also called for the unconditional release of about 1,300 political prisoners in Myanmar, many of them old and ailing, who have been in jail for up to 15 years.
He interviewed 19 of them this week at the notorious Insein prison.
"I told the authorities that it is a shame to keep all these people... It is outrageous to have people of 75 years in prison after 10,15 years. I am embarrassed to meet those people another time. They are supposed to be in their homes with their families not in Insein. It is unacceptable," he said.
Pinheiro dismissed criticism that he has failed to bring about any change in Myanmar.
"I am not a fairy with a magic wand, nor a superman," he said.
Inspiration for U2's "Walk On" Refuses to be Released Until All Those Arrested with Her Also Released
By AYE AYE WIN, Associated Press Writer
YANGON, Myanmar - Detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will not accept freedom until all those arrested with her five months ago are released, a U.N. human rights envoy said Saturday.
The Nobel Peace laureate is under house arrest. Her detention began after a bloody clash in northern Myanmar on May 30 between her supporters and a pro-junta mob.
U.N. Envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said 35 people remain in jail in connection with the May incident. In addition there are eight senior officials of her National League for Democracy party held under house arrest, he said.
The U.N. envoy said Suu Kyi told him that "she will not accept any privilege or freedom of movement before all the people detained since May 30 including her eight colleagues (are) released."
Pinheiro met with Suu Kyi at her lakeside home Thursday during his weeklong mission to investigate human rights in the military-ruled country.
After the May clash, Suu Kyi was detained at an undisclosed location under emergency security laws. She was later allowed to go to her Yangon residence, which she apparently remained unable to leave. But Pinheiro said he was told by authorities that she is "not held under any security law." The government has not publicly confirmed this.
It was not clear if that meant Suu Kyi was free to leave her home or whether she was being held under some non-security law.
"She wants an independent investigation of the (May 30) incident. She wants accountability and justice but not revenge," Pinheiro said.
Pinheiro has been the only person allowed to meet with Suu Kyi other than U.N. special envoy to Myanmar, Razali Ismail, and Red Cross officials.
Her detention has provoked widespread international criticism of the junta, which has refused to give up the power it seized in 1988 despite calling elections in 1990 and losing them to Suu Kyi's party.
Razali initiated reconciliation talks between Suu Kyi and the junta in October 2000 but the process ground to a halt after the May 30 incident in which dozens of opposition members are said to have been killed, according to dissident accounts. The government says only four people died.
Pinheiro also called for the unconditional release of about 1,300 political prisoners in Myanmar, many of them old and ailing, who have been in jail for up to 15 years.
He interviewed 19 of them this week at the notorious Insein prison.
"I told the authorities that it is a shame to keep all these people... It is outrageous to have people of 75 years in prison after 10,15 years. I am embarrassed to meet those people another time. They are supposed to be in their homes with their families not in Insein. It is unacceptable," he said.
Pinheiro dismissed criticism that he has failed to bring about any change in Myanmar.
"I am not a fairy with a magic wand, nor a superman," he said.
