MYANMAR: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (f), leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and writer, taken to prison

14 May 2009

RAN 29/07 - Update #1

The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC) is outraged by the charges of ‘subversion' brought today against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), writer and Nobel Peace laureate, for allegedly breaching the conditions of her house arrest. She was taken from her Yangon home, where she has been held under house arrest for most of the past nineteen years, to Insein Prison early this morning. Earlier this month Aung San Suu Kyi was treated for dehydration and low blood pressure, and although her condition is said to have improved, concerns for her well-being are now mounting. PEN protests her detention, and calls for her immediate and unconditional release alongside all others detained in Myanmar in violation of Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

According to PEN's information, Aung San Suu Kyi was taken from her home, where she was being held under house arrest, to the notorious Insein Prison in Yangon early on the morning of 14 May 2009. Suu Kyi and two members of her house staff are detained under Section 22 of the State Protection Law for "subversion", following an incident in which a US citizen reportedly swam across the lake to her home and in doing so violated the ban on her meeting with anyone without prior permission. For more details go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8049187.stm

Aung San Suu Kyi is due to stand trial on 18 May 2009, and she could face up to five years in prison if found guilty.

Background
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Burma's independence hero General Aung San, became leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in September 1988, and in 1991 led the NLD to a landslide election victory which has never been recognised by the military government. Prior to this she had lived in the UK for many years, where she raised two sons with her late husband British academic Michael Aris, who died in March 1999 of cancer. Aung San Suu Kyi has spent a large part of the past eighteen years in detention in Yangon, much of it in solitary confinement. She 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. Her most recent detention began when she was taken into ‘protective custody' following violent clashes between her supporters and those of the government on 30 May 2003, and she has since been held under renewable one-year detention orders.

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).

International PEN WiPC protests the detention of writer and opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who it considers to be detained in violation of Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We call upon the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to show its commitment to political dialogue in Myanmar by securing the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all others detained in Myanmar for the peaceful expression of their views.