15 May 2009

United States Expresses Outrage over Arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi

Burmese refugees in Malaysia urge the release of Aung San Suu Kyi in a protest outside the Burmese embassy May 15.

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington — The United States expressed outrage to Burma’s military junta for placing new charges against detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

“I am deeply troubled by the Burmese government’s decision to charge Aung San Suu Kyi for a baseless crime,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said at a press briefing May 14 at the State Department. “We oppose the regime’s efforts to use this incident as a pretext to place further unjustified restrictions on her, and therefore we call on the Burmese authorities to release her immediately and unconditionally, along with her doctor and the more than 2,100 political prisoners currently being held.”

Clinton told reporters she planned to speak with the secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for assistance in having Aung San Suu Kyi released.

“We will also raise this issue with other nations like China and see if we can’t, on a humanitarian basis, seek relief for Aung San Suu Kyi from this latest effort to intimidate and perhaps even incarcerate her,” Clinton said.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, said in a statement May 14 that she was “deeply concerned about Aung San Suu Kyi’s current situation and the new charges being levied against her for supposedly violating the terms of her house arrest.”

“The Burmese authorities must not use the current situation as a pretext to extend her detainment. The U.S. government calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi,” Rice said.

Rice said the United States stands in solidarity with those in Burma who are struggling for democracy.

“We strongly urge progress toward a democratic Burma that respects the rights of all of its citizens,” she said.

The 63-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi, who is said to be in fragile health, was arrested May 14 by Burmese security agents and is expected to stand trial for allowing a U.S. citizen — John William Yettaw — to stay overnight in her compound without the government’s permission, which the authorities regard as an apparent violation of her long-term house arrest.

U.S. Embassy personnel were given permission to meet with Yettaw, though he was charged May 14 with illegally entering a restricted zone, which according to news reports carries a maximum penalty of five years, and with breaking immigration laws, which carries a maximum one-year prison sentence.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been confined for 13 of the last 19 years by the military junta. Formal charges were made by the junta on May 14.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Kyi Win, told reporters that when Yettaw reached her compound she told him to leave, but she allowed him to stay after he said he was physically unable to leave the compound. According to press reports, Yettaw swam across a lake in central Rangoon to reach her heavily guarded compound.

The charges against Aung San Suu Kyi carry a sentence of up to five years, according to news reports. She is being held in a “residential facility” on the grounds of Insein Prison, which is near Burma’s main city, Rangoon, her lawyer told reporters.

European Union Commission President José Manuel Barroso said in a prepared statement May 15 in Brussels that “I deeply regret that ... Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi has been arrested by the authorities of Myanmar [which is the name used by the military junta for Burma] and charged with violating the terms of her detention.”

“In fact, instead of being arrested she should have been released from house arrest, which was a clear violation of international law as determined by the United Nations,” he said.

Barroso urged Burmese authorities to release Aung San Suu Kyi immediately. Her release was also called for by the Norwegian committee that annually awards the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Her recent detention in prison is totally unacceptable,” the committee said in a statement.

What foreign affairs decisions should President Obama consider? Comment on America.gov's blog.