Clinton Demands Release of Aung San Suu Kyi

[Heidi]

Source: New York Times

PARIS — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton joined a chorus of predominantly Western voices condemning the sentencing of Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, on Tuesday, demanding her release and saying that, without a change in its human rights practices, Myanmar’s scheduled elections next year would be illegitimate.

“She should not have been tried, and she should not have been convicted. We continue to call for her release,” Mrs. Clinton told reporters in Goma, Congo, where she is on an African tour.

“We also call for the release of more than 2,000 political prisoners, including the American, John Yettaw,” she said, referring to a 53-year-old American who swam across a lake in central Yangon, Myanmar’s main city, last May and spent two nights in Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s villa saying he wanted to save her from assassins. The episode triggered the case against her on charges of violating the terms of her house arrest.

Mrs Clinton said: “We are concerned about the harsh punishment. The Burmese junta should immediately end its repression.” She added that Myanmar’s leaders need to start a dialogue with the political opposition and address human rights obligations, “otherwise the elections they have scheduled for next year will have absolutely no legitimacy.”



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/world/asia/12reax.html

[Heidi]

1. AP: Clinton: Conviction of Myanmar's Suu Kyi wrong

By MATTHEW LEE (AP) – 2 hours ago

GOMA, Congo — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Tuesday for the release of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, saying she "should not have been convicted" on a charge of violating house arrest.

Suu Kyi, the 64-year-old Nobel Peace laureate, has been in detention in Myanmar, also known as Burma, for 14 of the last 20 years, mostly under house arrest. She has now been ordered to serve an 18-month sentence for allowing an uninvited American to stay at her home.

"She should not have been tried. She should not have been convicted," Clinton told a news conference here. "We continue to call for her release."

Clinton said the United States is also concerned about the seven-year sentence imposed on the American, John Yettaw, who suffers from medical problems.

Read more

[SIMPLYB1980]

2. K&R

[DarthDem]

3. Go Hillary

Lord, it is SO WONDERFUL to have a real Secretary of State again.

[Heidi]

4. She's doin' it right, isn't she?

I hated to add the link to the related thread in my OP, but some media idiots are talking about her "snapping" at a question about Bill's opinion--a distraction from her main message about ending sexual violence in the Congo. It just struck me as so weird that someone was asking her a question about her husband's opinion, given her overall message about ending sexual violence.

Here's a salient thread in the DU Media Forum:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=109&topic_id=37658&mesg_id=37658

[DarthDem]

9. She Absolutely Is

What a great choice for the job. The contrast between her and her ultra-dimwitted predecessor could not be clearer.

[Orsino]

10. I don't know whether she's doing it "right"...

...but it's awesome to hear our government finally take a stand for human rights.

[LiberalLovinLug]

5. "We continue to call for her release"

yawn.

That's what her reaction must be. How many years now has she been under house arrest, and world leaders have given their 'demands' she be released.

Of course China is a big problem. Not only do they hold the purse strings for America, compounded by 8 years of Republican Big Government spending and borrowing, but China is Myanmar's only trading partner, for the most part. So sanctions just do not work.

I am a pacifist other than self defense, but there is a handful of countries, N. Korea, Sudan, and Myanmar where a UN style invasion is warranted.
It would work in a country like Myanmar because, unlike Iraq, there is a history of an actual election process. It would simply be restoration of the democratic principles that the people wanted. But alas, there is no oil to be had, so the US, as well as every other rich western democracy lets Aung San Suu Kyi grow old and die in detention.

Its so sad and unjust. It seems like these world leaders are secretly hoping that she will just die already, so they don't have to be embarrassed by their lack of action anymore, and Myanmar can go back to being just another repressive state with the population having lost their one and only symbol of hope for a better future.

[Call Me Wesley]

6. The EU already started sanctions on Burma:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,641786,00.html

[Wednesdays]

7. K&R

:kick:

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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