Obama hails Suu Kyi as a 'hero' - Summary

Sat, 13 Nov 2010

Washington - US President Barack Obama welcomed the release Saturday of Myanmar's leading democratic activist, Aung San Suu Kyi, and called for all of the country's political prisoners to be freed.

"She is a hero of mine and a source of inspiration for all who work to advance basic human rights in Burma and around the world," Obama said in a statement while traveling in Japan.

He called the release "long overdue."

Myanmar's junta released Suu Kyi from house arrest almost a week after staging a general election widely criticized as a sham by the international community.

The Southeast Asian country is also known as Burma. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has spent 15 of the past 20 years under house arrest. She was locked up after her National League for Democracy party won the 1990 election.

"Whether Aung San Suu Kyi is living in the prison of her house, or the prison of her country, does not change the fact that she, and the political opposition she represents, has been systematically silenced, incarcerated, and deprived of any opportunity to engage in political processes that could change Burma," Obama said.

"It is time for the Burmese regime to release all political prisoners, not just one," he added. "The United States looks forward to the day when all of Burma's people are free from fear and persecution."

Obama in May extended US sanctions on Myanmar that have been in place for years over the regime's repressive policies and the detentions of Suu Kyi and members of the National League for Democracy. His predecessor, George W Bush, had tightened the sanctions.

Bush's wife, Laura, took up Myanmar as one of her personal causes during her years as first lady. She released a statement Saturday calling Suu Kyi the "democratically elected leader" of Myanmar.

"President Bush and I join with those around the world celebrating her freedom and urge for her release to be without condition," she said.

"Suu Kyi's peaceful protest is an example for the strength of nonviolent opposition," she added. "We fervently hope that the day of a free Burma for all its citizens is soon a reality."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/353394,a-hero-summary.html.