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Protests For Burmese Capt



/* Written  2:00 PM  Jul 21, 1994 by wov.central@xxxxxxx in igc:soc.cult.burma */
/* ---------- "Protests For Burmese Capt" ---------- */
Subject : Protests For Burmese Captive

   LONDON (AP) -- Supporters around the world demonstrated Wednesday
to demand the release of Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu
Kyi, at the start of her sixth year under house arrest.
   The 49-year-old political prisoner has grown in stature as she
waits for the military junta to deliver on promises to restore
democracy. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
   On Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of her arrest, 14 Nobel
Peace Prize recipients, including former Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev and Tibet's exiled leader, the Dalai Lama, called for
Mrs. Suu Kyi's release.
   "The long and unjust incarceration of Aung San Suu Kyi belies
the (military regime's) declared intention to allow a transition to
civilian rule," the Nobel laureates said in a letter published
Wednesday in London's Independent newspaper.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi, the daughter of the country's founding father,
Gen. Aung San, was arrested July 20, 1989, under a law safeguarding
the state from "subversive elements." She has refused the junta's
offer of freedom if she agrees to leave the country.
   In London, about 30 protesters held a one-hour vigil outside the
Burmese Embassy. A Japanese monk beat a prayer paddle and two
members of Parliament handcuffed themselves to a makeshift cage.
   Many demonstrators wore masks of Mrs. Suu Kyi's smiling face and
T-shirts with her face and her words: "Fear is a habit. I am not
afraid."
   In Paris, six demonstrators were arrested as they tried to
unfurl banners at the Burmese Embassy.
   Twenty-three demonstrators rallied outside the Burmese Embassy
in Tokyo, holding signs reading: "Democracy in Burma" and "Stop
the Arrest of Suu Kyi." Rallies were also held in Manila, Bangkok
and Oslo.
   Australia's foreign minister, Gareth Evans, called Mrs. Suu
Kyi's continued detention "indefensible." Sweden's foreign
minister, Margaretha af Ugglas, also urged her release.
   Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group that
organized the protests, said the junta holds hundreds of political
prisoners.
   The military took power in September 1988 after bloodily
suppressing pro-democracy street demonstrations. Mrs. Suu Kyi was
arrested the following July on the ground that she tried to inspire
hatred of the military.
   In 1990, her National League for Democracy won a landslide
election victory, but the military nullified the results and
cracked down on opponents. Restoration of civilian rule, the junta
says, will have to await the drafting of a new constitution, which
is proceeding at a leisurely pace under the junta's close
supervision.
   The junta knows how popular Mrs. Suu Kyi is and fears her for
it. The guidelines for a draft constitution contain clauses
intended to bar her from holding office, mostly on the basis of her
being married to a foreigner.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi's husband, Oxford professor Michael Aris, said his
wife would mark Wednesday, like any other day, with meditation,
listening to radio news and music, exercising, doing household
chores and reading.
   Her visits with Aris and their two sons are limited by the
junta.


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