Celebrities from around the world have been “tweeting” about a new campaign launched on Wednesday 27 May allowing visitors to leave a message of support for Burma’s imprisoned democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi in the run up to her 64th birthday.
Since then, Demi Moore, Yoko Ono, Kevin Spacey, Sarah Brown, and Eddie Izzard have all asked their followers to back the major new campaign. It is the first political campaign to use twitter with an integrated website to harness the reach and influence of some of the world’s most influential celebrities. Through replies and re-tweets, the campaign message reached an estimated 5 million people through Twitter alone in its first five days.
On May 18th Aung San Suu Kyi was put on trial, charged with breaching the terms of her house arrest after an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her house and refused to leave. The dictatorship are using the visit as an opportunity to extend her detention, which was expected to expire yesterday. Her trial is ongoing and she could face a further five years in detention.
Yoko Ono tweeted “FREE Daw Aung San Suu Kyi NOW! http://bit.ly/asskhttp://www.64forSuu.org #assk64”.
Stephen Fry tweeted “Free Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi!!!http://www.64forSuu.org #assk64”
Kevin Spacey tweeted ““Free Burma’s Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi!!! #assk64 www.64forsuu.org (via @SarahBrown10) RT “.
As well as celebrities, the website is receiving political support featuring video messages to Aung San Suu Kyi from heads of state including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Maldives and President Jose Ramos Horta, President of Timor-Leste.
For more information contact Johnny Chatterton on 020 7324 4710
Notes to editor:
The website 64forSuu.org can be viewed here: http://64forsuu.org/. It is backed by a coalition of organisations including, Burma Campaign UK, Open Society Institute, Not On Our Watch, Amnesty International, Avaaz, English Pen, US Campaign for Burma, The Trade Union Congress, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Human Rights Watch, Norwegian Burma Committee, Burma Campaign Australia, Burma Info Japan, Info Birmanie (France), Burma Action Ireland, Article 19, International Peace Bureau (IPB), Birmania Por La Paz (Spain), and Austria Burma Center .
Explanation of tweets
The tweets mention the promotional hashtag #assk64 which is used to promote the website 64forsuu.org
RT refers to a retweet when someone on twitter retweets another person’s tweet.
The tweets can be viewed here:
Demi Moore
“@sunsetcruise It is horrible what is happening to Aung San Suu Kyi. I am grateful her story recently has been brought to my attention.”
Yoko Ono
“FREE Daw Aung San Suu Kyi NOW! http://bit.ly/assk http://www.64forSuu.org #assk64”
Kevin Spacey
“Free Burma’s Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi!!! #assk64http://www.64forSuu.org (via @SarahBrown10) RT “
Stephen Fry
“Free Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi!!! http://www.64forSuu.org #assk64” http://twitter.com/stephenfry/statuses/1933131470
Eddie Izzard http://twitter.com/eddieizzard
“Free Burma’s dignified Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi !!! #assk64http://www.64forSuu.org– please RT” – Sarah Brown”
Jimmy Carr
“I know its not the type of thing I usually twitter about but can you Free Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi !!! #assk64 http://www.64forSuu.org”
Sarah Brown http://twitter.com/SarahBrown10/statuses/1929209237
“Free Burma’s dignified Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi !!! #assk64http://www.64forSuu.org – big new campaign, please RT “
Emma Freud http://twitter.com/emmafreud
“Free Burma’s Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi!!! #assk64http://www.64forSuu.org (via @SarahBrown10) RT”
David Baddiel http://twitter.com/ronskanky
“Free Burma’s Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi!!! #assk64http://www.64forSuu.org (via @SarahBrown10)”
Omid Djalili http://twitter.com/omiddjalili
Free Burma’s Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi!!! #assk64http://www.64forSuu.org (via @SarahBrown10)