Protest Sentencing of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma

August 12, 2009
Protest Sentencing of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma

As most of us know the military junta in Burma recently
fabricated a charge against Ms. Kyi, formally elected President
of Burma, held a mock trial and sentenced her to another 18 months
of house arrest - after serving 13 out of 19 years- before this incident.

The world community has expressed it's outrage. She is now 64 and
probably weak and not in the best of health, and deserves her freedom.
Now is a good time to show our support for her cause and that of some
2000 activists in Burma who are being help as prisoners because of their
support of Ms. Kyi and the desire for democratic freedoms in Burma.

There have been many communications and sanctions against the military
government and probably more to come after this spurious verdict.
Perhaps the "case" would even be taken up by the International Criminal Court
or another International Court that has the power to impose disapline or punishment against the military junta for their crimes againt humanity; against the human rights
of the people of Burma.

For now we can join in with the protest campaign of Amnesty International,
the action alert which follows.
Peace in the progressive movement,
arn specter, phila. arnpeace@yahoo.com
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August 12, 2009
Myanmar's military junta extended Nobel Peace laureate and pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's imprisonment by 18 months today after finding her guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest.

Critics of Myanmar's military regime condemned the outcome of the 3-month sham trial,1 calling it a pretext to keep Suu Kyi out of the running during next year's presidential elections.2

The junta — which currently detains more than 2,100 political prisoners — commuted Suu Kyi's sentence from three years hard labor in prison to an 18-month extension to her house arrest in the hopes that the international community will view the reduced sentence as an act of leniency.

But Suu Kyi should have never been imprisoned in the first place.

Suu Kyi's deplorable imprisonment has been denounced by everyone from heads of state worldwide to nine of Suu Kyi's fellow Nobel laureates. Join the court of world opinion in condemning Daw Ang San Suu Kyi's sham trial. Tell the leader of Myanmar's military junta that Suu Kyi shouldn't serve another minute of her sentence.

We know that the odds of success may seem stacked against us any time we appeal to authoritarian rulers. But the recent release of two U.S. journalists from North Korea is proof that even totalitarian regimes are vulnerable to relentless international pressure.

The fact that Myanmar's government reduced Suu Kyi's sentence is also a sign that the military regime is susceptible to the world community's criticisms.3

We've proven time after time that even military dictatorships and other repressive regimes are no match for Amnesty's millions-strong global movement. Just last year, Ma Khin Khin Leh, another prisoner of conscience in Myanmar, obtained her release after Amnesty activists sent tens of thousands of letters to Myanmar's leaders on her behalf.

Join us today in calling for Daw Ang San Suu Kyi's immediate release.

Thank you for standing with us,

— Anil, Nancy, Jim, Ulana and the rest of the Myanmar rapid response team

1, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8194596.stm
2, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/world/asia/12myanmar.html
3, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8194868.stm
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How do you apply pressure on Burma?

By Paul Reynolds, August 11, 2009
World affairs correspondent, BBC News (www.bbc.co.uk )

Britain is to propose a UN arms embargo on Burma, but is facing an uphill struggle as the world once again divides on how to deal with a dictatorial and repressive regime.

Some governments will press for more pressure on Burma through increased sanctions.

These are mostly the Western liberal democracies. They are highly sensitive to

pressure from human rights campaigners - and there are few lobbies more effective than the Burmese one.

Nine Nobel Peace Prize winners, led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica, have added their voices to the powerful crescendo.

They have repeated a call for an arms embargo that they made in last year.

Many Western countries have imposed a range of sanctions already, to little effect. Many of them will now support an arms embargo.

The US already bans all imports from Burma, including the highly-prized Burmese jade, and applies a range of other economic sanctions targeted at the junta's leadership.

“ The prospect of a formal worldwide arms embargo must be minimal ”

Washington is also currently concerned about North Korea possibly selling missile technology to Burma, and has taken action to freeze funds held by two North Korean companies.

The EU has a full arms embargo and bans the import of timber and precious stones as well. Other governments see opportunities for trade.

The Burmese junta embarked a few years ago on a modernisation plan for its armed forces, and has bought the weapons to equip them, mainly from China but also from Russia and Ukraine.

British proposals

The conviction and sentence of Aung San Suu Kyi has prompted the British government to declare its next move.

The British Foreign Office minister Ivan Lewis said: "What we must do now, and Britain will lead on this, is ensure that the international community finally acts firmly. The measures that we will propose are that we move quickly to ensure further

EU sanctions targeting the regime's economic interests.

"The prime minister will be writing to the secretary general of the United Nations

today and the permanent members of the Security Council... urging further

international sanctions.

"Specifically we now want to see an arms embargo against the regime.

We want to see Burma's neighbours, the Asean countries, China, Japan, Thailand, apply maximum pressure."

This is easier said than done. Sometimes in situations like these, governments make statements of intent to show their determination and to head off pressure on themselves from the lobby groups.

But statements of outrage and intent cannot always be followed up with collective action.

In this case, the attitude of Russia and China might well be one of reluctance.

In January 2007, before the repressed uprising later that year, the US and UK sponsored a Security Council resolution urging Burma to open dialogue with the opposition. Nine countries voted in favour, three abstained and two voted against.

The resolution failed because two of the negative votes were from Russia and China, both veto holders.

It is true that the council issued statements after the 2007 protests calling on the Burmese government to create conditions for a dialogue - but that was not a full resolution and did not commit the member states to anything.

An arms embargo would be a major signal and is much harder to achieve.

So there will be a lot of harsh criticism of Burma and calls for joint action, but the prospect of a formal worldwide arms embargo must be minimal.

The best that can hoped for, perhaps, is that the governments that have sold weapons to Burma will be forced to tread softly and perhaps put further Burmese requests on the back burner.

Glimmer

There is one glimmer of hope for campaigners. The sentence on Aung San Suu Kyi was reduced from three years hard labour in prison to an 18-month extension to her house arrest.

This was probably a tactical move by the regime to avoid an even greater international outcry. It also achieves their goal of preventing her from taking any role in elections next year under the new constitution they have forced through.

It shows perhaps that they are aware of the outside world - but only to an extent.

Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/8194868.stm

Published: August 11,2009
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