Hear Someone More Intelligent Than Me On Aung San Suu Kyi's Conviction

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Statement by the President on Aung San Suu Kyi’s conviction and sentencing

The conviction and sentencing of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi today on charges related to an uninvited intrusion into her home violate universal principles of human rights, run counter to Burma’s commitments under the ASEAN charter, and demonstrate continued disregard for UN Security Council statements. I join the international community in calling for Aung San Suu Kyi’s immediate unconditional release.

Today’s unjust decision reminds us of the thousands of other political prisoners in Burma who, like Aung San Suu Kyi, have been denied their liberty because of their pursuit of a government that respects the will, rights, and aspirations of all Burmese citizens. They, too, should be freed. Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. I call on the Burmese regime to heed the views of its own people and the international community and to work towards genuine national reconciliation.

I am also concerned by the sentencing of American citizen John Yettaw to seven years in prison, a punishment out of proportion with his actions.
Another article at the Washington Post with Suu Kyi's international counsel Jared Genser.

Suu Kyi and American Convicted By Burmese Court

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced Tuesday to an additional 18 months under house arrest on charges of breaching the terms of her previous incarceration by harboring an American tourist who swam across a lake bordering her villa and entered her heavily guarded property uninvited.
*Will This Ever End?*