Aung San Suu Kyi
Profession: Leader of National League for Democracy (NLD) and writer.
Date of arrest: 30 May 2003
Details of arrrest: Taken into 'protective custody' following violent clashes between opposition and pro-government supporters on 30 May 2003. The military government reported that four people were killed in the clashes, though eye-witnesses estimate the numbers killed to be over sixty. Many were also injured, including Aung San Suu Kyi, who is believed to have suffered cuts to the face and shoulder when the window of her car was shattered by a brick. Her injuries are not thought to have been serious. Her house arrest was extended for a year on 30 May 2006 and on 27 May 2007, the military authority announced that she will be under house arrest for another year (see below).
Place of detention: Held in 'protective custody' at her home in Yangon.
Treatment in prison: Held virtually incommunicado. Last seen in September 2003 when the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited her for about an hour at an unknown location.
Previous political imprisonment/problems: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was held under de facto house arrest for six years from July 1989-July 1995, and again from September 2000 until May 2002, when she was released as part of UN-brokered confidential talks between the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and the NLD which began in October 2000.
Professional details: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 1991. She is the author of many books, including Freedom From Fear (1991), Letters from Burma (1997), The Voice of Hope (1997).
***UPDATE: 30 May 2007***
On Sunday 27 May it was confirmed that the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi would be extended for a fifth successive year. Over 300 protestors gathered to pray for Suu Kyi's release at Shwedagon pagoda on the same day, but were blocked by mobs of government supporters and police. Eleven pro-democracy activists were reportedly arrested, and some 30 physically attacked.
***UPDATE: 28 May 2008***
The house arrest of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was extended for a further twelve months on 27 May 2008. It was on this day 18 years ago, that Aung San Suu Kyi legitimately won the 1990 general elections, a result not recognised by the military junta who have been in power since.
According to our information, Suu Kyi was personally informed of her continued imprisonment by officials from the Home Ministry. The extension was issued despite a Myanmar law stipulating that no one can be held longer than five years without being released or put on trial. Twenty youth members of the National League for Democracy Party, who were marching to the home of their leader on the day her latest year-long house arrest was due to expire, were arrested by riot police. Foreign Secretary David Milliband has urged the Burmese authorities to release Aung San Suu Kyi in order to "allow her to play her rightful role in the process of genuine national reconciliation."
*** UPDATE: 24 March 2009***
According to the BBC World Service, "The UN has said the detention of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi violates both international legislation and the laws of Burma. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions called for Ms Suu Kyi's immediate release...."The latest renewal (2008) of the order to place Ms Suu Kyi under house arrest not solely violates international law but also national domestic laws of Myanmar [Burma]," said the UN working group. The group - an arm of the UN Human Rights Council - said Ms Suu Kyi was being held under Burma's 1975 State Protection Law, which only allows renewable arrest orders for a maximum of five years. This five-year period ended in May 2008. "
"Jared Genser, the Washington-based legal counsel to Ms Suu Kyi admitted that Burma's ruling military junta was unlikely to bow to UN advice on its own laws. "I'm under no illusion that Aung San Suu Kyi will be immediately released because of this judgment. But at the same time I do think it is an important small step forward," he said. "I do think that it will have an important impact on the United Nations' ability to press particularly China, Russia and others who have been more protective of the junta," he said.
***UPDATE: 14 May 2009***
English PEN was extremely disappointed to learn that the leader of Burma's National League for Democracy and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi has today been charged with breaching the conditions of her house arrest. The charge relates to a US citizen who reportedly swam across the lake to her home and in doing so violated the ban on her meeting with anyone without prior permission.
English PEN Honorary Member Suu Kyi was taken from her home, where she was being held under house arrest, to the notorious Insein Prison in Rangoon. Suu Kyi and two members of her house staff are detained under Section 22 of the State Protection Law for "subversion". For more information on the charges, please click here.
Aung San Suu Kyi's trial is due to begin on 18 May 2009, and she could face up to five years in prison if found guilty.
***UPDATE: 3 July 2009***
English PEN is pleased to learn that UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon has flown to Burma to demand the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the country's two hundred political prisoners. It is not yet known whether or not Ban Ki Moon will be allowed to visit Suu Kyi whose trial has today been resumed after a month-long adjournment. For more information, please click here.
***UPDATE: 11 August 2009***
On 11 August 2009, Aung San Suu Kyi was found guilty of breaching the conditions of her house arrest. She was initially sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour, but the sentence was reduced to 18 months under house arrest following a special order from General Than Shwe. Althought this was thought to be a sign that the Burmese authorities are "willing to compromise, at least to some extent, to the will of the international community" (Kate McGeown, BBC News website Asia-Pacific editor) we nevertheless remain deeply concerned about the outcome of this trial, which means that she will be unable to participate in the elections that have been scheduled for next year. We therefore continue to call for her immediate and unconditional release.