The Burma Campaign UK today demanded that Britain push for immediate action at the UN Security Council following news that Aung San Suu Kyi has been put in Insein Prison.
Insein Prison is notorious for its harsh conditions and use of torture and beatings.
“Insein is more than a prison,” said John Jackson, Director of the Burma Campaign UK. “It represents the full apparatus of state repression in Burma.”
“That the regime would do this despite recent criticism shows that words alone are not enough to influence this regime,” said Jackson. “It is time for the international community to get tough on this regime. This must go to the UN Security Council.”
Aung San Suu Kyi is being held under article 10a of Burma’s 1975 State Protection Law. UN envoy Razali Ismail revealed Aung San Suu Kyi told him this was the law she was being held under when he met with her last week.
Article 10a allows Than Shwe, Burma’s dictator, to hold Aung San Suu Kyi in isolation for six months, and for her detention without trial for a further five years. It is the same law that the regime used to detain Aung San Suu Kyi in 1989, but is not thought to be the law under which she was put under house arrest in 2000.
“By reverting to this draconian law it seems Than Shwe is planning the long term imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi,” said Jackson
The Burma Campaign UK is also concerned about the conditions Aung San Suu Kyi is being held under. When Razali Ismail met her she was still in the clothes she had been arrested in 11 days earlier. Despite claiming Aung San Suu Kyi is in protective custody the Red Cross is still being denied access to her. “Are the generals suggesting Aung San Suu Kyi is at risk from the Red Cross?”, asks John Jackson.
“Burma is back where it was 14 years ago,” says Jackson. “Aung San Suu Kyi is under arrest, the generals are massacring their own people, National League for Democracy offices are closed and there are around 1,500 political prisoners. The world failed to act then. It must not fail to act now.”
For more information contact John Jackson, Director of Burma Campaign UK,or Mark Farmaner, Media Officer, on 020 7281 7377