Not On Our Watch unites politicians, entertainers, artists in support of incarcerated Burmese freedom fighter
Press Release From Not On Our Watch.
NEW YORK, NY – May 15, 2009
As the ruling Burmese military junta attempts to prolong the unlawful imprisonment of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, Not On Our Watch, the international advocacy and aid organization, has united preeminent voices from across the cultural, political, and social spheres in a call to the international community and the United Nations to press for the release of the Burmese freedom fighter.
“Nineteen years ago, the Burmese people chose Aung San Suu Kyi to be their next leader. And for most of those 19 years she has been kept under house arrest by the military junta that now runs the country. She is the world’s only incarcerated Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
Yesterday Suu Kyi was taken to Burma’s Insein prison to face criminal charges as part of a concerted plan to deny her freedom.
We must not stand by as she is silenced once again. Now is the time for the United Nations and the entire international community to speak clearly, and with one voice: Free Aung San Suu Kyi.”
Endorsed by Not On Our Watch founders George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon, signatories to the statement also include cultural icons Bono, Madonna, Steven Spielberg, Nobel Laureates Professor Elie Wiesel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and Senator John McCain, among others.
The head of Burma’s leading opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi was first placed under house arrest 19 years ago. Following nationwide elections in 1990 in which the NLD won 82 percent of the vote, the ruling Burmese military junta extended Suu Kyi’s imprisonment and refused to recognize the results. For 13 of the past 19 years, she has been under house arrest in the Burmese capital of Rangoon. The UN has declared that her incarceration not only “violates international law but also national domestic laws of Myanmar [Burma].”
Originally scheduled to be released at the end of May 2009, a bizarre turn of events has thrown Suu Kyi’s future into doubt. Earlier this month, an American unlawfully swam to her compound, staying there for two nights against Suu Kyi’s wishes. Upon the discovery of this visit, Burmese authorities arrested the intruder, and on May 14, took Suu Kyi to the Insein prison to face criminal charges aimed at further extending her incarceration. They have declared that she will stand trial on May 18.
FREE AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Nineteen years ago, the Burmese people chose Aung San Suu Kyi to be their next leader. And for most of those 19 years she has been kept under house arrest by the military junta that now runs the country. She is the world’s only incarcerated Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
Yesterday Suu Kyi was taken to Burma’s Insein prison to face criminal charges as part of a concerted plan to deny her freedom.
We must not stand by as she is silenced once again. Now is the time for the United Nations and the entire international community to speak clearly, and with one voice: Free Aung San Suu Kyi.
In support,
(partial list, for full list please see www.notonourwatchproject.org
Sec. Madeleine Albright, Bono, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Václav Havel, Norman Lear, Madonna, Sen. John & Cindy McCain, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Brad Pitt, Salman Rushdie, Steven Spielberg, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Prof. Elie Wiesel
For more information, please contact AJ Wolosenko/Not On Our Watch
Ph: +1 212.277.5257
Email: aj@notonourwatchproject.org
Find out more about Aung San Suu Kyi here.