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Dalai Lama appeals for Suu Kyi's release

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An Indian policeman stands guard near a defaced plaque of the Myanmar embassy after a protest by pro-democracy activists in New Delhi on 12 August 2009. The Dalai Lama on Wednesday expressed his concern over Myanmar junta extending house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung an Suu Kyi, and appealed for her release.File photo/Reuters/Fayaz Kabli/India

Joining the global outcry over Myanmar junta’s extended house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the Dalai Lama expressed his concern and appealed for her release.

“I am deeply saddened by the extended detention of Aung San Suu Kyi to a further period of house arrest,” a statement released by the Dalai Lama said.

“As a fellow Buddhist, I would like to once again appeal to the Burmese authorities to show magnanimity and understanding by releasing her. Doing so will not only contribute towards reconciliation but also will be a goodwill gesture.”

A court ruling found Suu Kyi, guilty of allowing an uninvited American visitor at her lakeside home in May, following which the court sentenced her to three years in prison with hard labour. However, junta’s strongman Than Shwe commuted the sentence to a year and a half under house arrest.

John Yettaw, a 53-year-old American, who thought he was on a mission from God to save Suu Kyi when he swam across a lake on the night of 3 May, arrived at her house uninvited and stayed two nights before he secretly tried to swim back.

He managed to arrive by the back door of Suu Kyi’s home but collapsed due to cramps in both legs. Even though he was moaning in pain, Suu Kyi would not let him in. It was only after dawn that he was permitted to enter the house. Suu Kyi told him to leave, but he complained of ill health. He stayed two days and then attempted to swim back and was arrested.

The Nobel laureate was charged with violating her house arrest. She said that as a humanitarian she could not turn away someone who was suffering.

Yettaw was sentenced to seven years’ of rigorous imprisonment with hard labour.

The ruling junta faced a global wave of anger over her extended house arrest.

US President Barack Obama condemned Myanmar on Tuesday for convicting and sentencing pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and called for her “immediate unconditional release.”

Obama also said he was concerned about the seven year sentence given to Yettaw.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called her sentence “monstrous,” while French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Suu Kyi’s continued imprisonment was “brutal and unjust.”

However, Myanmar’s staunch ally China urged the world to respect Myanmar’s judicial sovereignty, suggesting Beijing would not back any UN action against the junta’s new sentence on Suu Kyi.

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention, most under house arrest, ever since the military regime refused to recognise her National League for Democracy’s landslide victory in the last elections held in 1990.

Observers say that the ruling junta needs to find a way of removing her from sight before next year’s elections.

The junta has called for elections next year, and does not want Suu Kyi to be actively involved in any way. Her mere presence on the streets of Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar, could trigger a popular uprising that the rulers would be hard-pressed to contain.

With inputs taken from agencies

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