Mother of Burma

Comment by Jeffrey Hellman on May 11, 2009 at 11:16am

Dear friends,

In the last few days you may have read reports that Burma’s democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is unwell and is being denied proper medical attention by the Burmese regime.

We are deeply concerned about her health and have urgently called on the United Nations and ASEAN to send envoys immediately, and insist on Aung San Suu Kyi being given proper medical treatment

HER DOCTOR HAS BEEN ARRESTED, MEDICAL ATTENTION DENIED
Aung San Suu Kyi is reported to be suffering from dehydration and low blood pressure, and having difficulty eating. Her doctor was arrested on Thursday without explanation. Another doctor was allowed to visit her on Friday, and reportedly put her on an IV drip. He was not allowed to visit her on Saturday. It is not clear what is wrong with Aung San Suu Kyi, or what treatment she is being allowed to receive.

Since Aung San Suu Kyi was detained in 2003, the dictatorship has repeatedly stopped her having proper medical access. The United Nations negotiated an agreement that her doctor be allowed to visit her once a month, which is less than the doctor said was necessary.

13 YEARS, 199 DAYS UNDER ARREST
Today Aung San Suu Kyi will have spent a total of 13 years and 199 days in detention since she was first placed under house arrest in 1989. The United Nations has ruled that Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention is illegal under international law, and also under Burmese law. The United Nations Security Council has also told the dictatorship that they must release Aung San Suu Kyi.

THE REGIME’S POLICY OF DENYING MEDICAL TREATMENT
The denial of medical treatment is systematically used against Burma’s 2,156 political prisoners. The regime deliberately leaves democracy activists to die in squalid conditions in Burma’s prisons.

Nearly 300,000 people have now signed the global petition calling the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon make the release of Burma’s political prisoners his top priority. Please sign the petition now and help free Burma’s Political Prisoners: http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/fbppn.htm

If you have already signed the petition please tell you friends, family and colleagues to sign it now. Why not forward this email on to them?

Thank you,

Johnny Chatterton
Campaigns Officer
Burma Campaign UK

P.S. You can find out more about Aung San Suu Kyi here: "">http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/burma/campaigns/aun... P.P.S You can show your support for Aung San Suu Kyi on her facebook page here: http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Aung-San-Suu-Kyi/9953503420

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The Burma Campaign UK
Registered Company No. 3804730
Registered office address
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London N1 6HT

Comment by Jeffrey Hellman on May 11, 2009 at 3:13pm

Dangerous Situation for World’s Only Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize R...U.S. CAMPAIGN FOR BURMA PRESS RELEASE

Dangerous Situation for World’s Only Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Recipient

Doctor Under Arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi Ill

May 11th, 2009
Contact: Jennifer Quigley at 202-234-8022

(Washington, DC) The U.S. Campaign for Burma today called on world leaders to demand Burma’s military dictator Than Shwe immediately free the country’s imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and her physician who has been detained since last Thursday. The Campaign especially urged U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to speak out for the freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi and her doctor.

“The world needs to act urgently to ensure that Aung San Suu Kyi is released immediately, so that she will have all the medical attention she needs,” said Aung Din, co-founder of the U.S. Campaign for Burma. “The arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi’s doctor puts her in a seriously dangerous situation.”

Aung San Suu Kyi, the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, is reportedly suffering from extremely low blood pressure and has not eaten in days — yet, Than Shwe’s military regime arrested her doctor on May 7th and only allowed a junior doctor to monitor her situation. Without full medical care, it is impossible to know details of her condition and whether she is okay. She has been detained for almost six years since May 30, 2003, when she and her party members were brutally attacked by the regime’s militias in Depayin, Burma. Scores of party members were killed and she was put into detention. According to the law, used by the regime to justify her continued detention, she can only be detained for a maximum of six years. She will reach her sixth year under detention on May 24, 2009. However, the regime has shown no signs they intent to grant her freedom and just last week denied an appeal made by her lawyer for her release.

The regime has often refused medical care to gravely ill imprisoned political leaders in Burma, resulting in death.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the legitimate leader of Burma. Her political party, the National League for Democracy, won 82 percent of parliamentary seats in a national election in 1990, but the military regime refused to cede power. Known to many as “Asia’s Nelson Mandela”, Aung San Suu Kyi has won dozens of international awards for her non-violent struggle to bring an end to military rule in Burma. The military junta has been condemned by the United Nations, United States government, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other groups for its horrific human rights abuses.

To date, the United Nations has remained “puzzlingly” silent on the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi’s doctor, added Aung Din.##

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