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Demonstrations are planned in 12 cities worldwide against Burma's continuing detention of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. Protests will be staged at Chinese embassies, as campaigners say Beijing holds the key to Ms Suu Kyi's release. The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been held by the junta, mostly under house arrest, for exactly 12 years. Australia is the latest country to impose sanctions on Burma's generals, amid global condemnation of their rule. Australian officials said the financial sanctions would target 418 individuals, including top military figures and cabinet ministers. Pressure has been growing on the...

Myanmar protesters hit 100,000 mark As many as 100,000 anti-government protesters led by a phalanx of Buddhist monks marched Monday through Yangon, the largest crowd to demonstrate in Myanmar's biggest city since a 1988 pro-democracy uprising that was brutally crushed by the military. From the front of the march, witnesses could see a one-mile stretch of eight-lane road was filled with people. Some participants said there were several hundred thousand marchers in their ranks, but an international aid agency official with employees monitoring the crowd estimated said the size was well over 50,000 and approaching 100,000. It was the latest...

Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has greeted Buddhist monks protesting against the military junta. Apparently unable to hold her tears, Aung San Suu Kyi came out of the house she has been detained in since 2003 as the monks were let through a roadblock. At least 2,000 monks are staging a sixth day of protests through the streets of the main city of Rangoon. Up to 10,000 marched through Mandalay with protests also taking place in five townships across Burma. (snip) The area around University Avenue where Ms Suu Kyi's house is located has been closed to traffic...

10,000 protest against Myanmar gov't Myanmar police allowed a group of more than 500 Buddhist monks to march Saturday past the house where opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is detained, witnesses said, on a day that saw some of the largest protests since 1988. A monk said in a speech later to anti-government protesters that Suu Kyi came to her gate to greet them. His account could not immediately be confirmed. Suu Kyi has been under detention continuously since May 2003 at her Yangon home, and for 11 of the past 18 years. The monks stopped briefly in front...

Many people in Burma have been surprised by the sheer persistence of the protests in recent weeks. In a country where the authorities show zero tolerance of even the slightest criticism, such public displays of defiance have not been seen for almost 20 years. These protests stem from a decision by the military government to suddenly raise the price of fuel by up to five times on 15 August. Transport fares rose and that triggered a sharp rise in the price of consumer goods, hitting poor people particularly hard. The generals must have hoped that the momentum of the demonstrations...

he US has expressed deep concern about reports that Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been taken to hospital. A state department spokesman said he could not confirm the reports but urged Burma's military rulers to assure she had any necessary medical assistance. Ms Suu Kyi has been held since May 2003, and has spent 10 of the last 16 years under house arrest.

Myanmar Leader Suu Kyi Calls House Arrest Extension Illegal May 27, 2006 YANGON, Myanmar — The political party of Myanmar's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said the extension of her house arrest Saturday is unlawful and would hurt efforts at national reconciliation. The statement from the National League from Democracy was its first public acknowledgment that the ruling junta had renewed an order confining Suu Kyi to her home. The government has still not made any official announcement of its action. The statement said the party had "learnt with regret that authorities have continued to hold ... Aung...

I have never met Nobel laureate and Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but I hope one day I will. Suu Kyi's picture hangs prominently in my Capitol Hill office, reminding me daily of her plight—and her strength. Courageous and tenacious, Suu Kyi is the symbol of the nonviolent struggle for freedom and justice in Burma. As head of the National League for Democracy (NLD), she and other Burmese patriots have dedicated their lives to reform in one of the world's most repressive countries, currently misruled by an illegitimate military regime calling itself the State Peace and Development Council...

RANGOON, Burma -- Min Ko Naing spent nearly 16 years in solitary confinement. Not even his jailers would make eye contact with him.Myo Myint was repeatedly stripped, shackled and beaten while spending much of the same period in prison, also for challenging Burma's military rulers. During one interrogation, he recalled, he was kept naked for four days while being bludgeoned with canes. During another, he was lashed for hours to a seesaw, head down, until he blacked out. Myo Myint, 43, a former soldier who lost an arm and leg in a land mine explosion, spent nearly 15 years in...

Aung San Suu Kyi [Opposition Leader]Since her detention in 2003 after her convoy was attacked by thugs backed by the junta, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been silent (read: silenced) and cut off from all communication with the outside world.   .   . @Than Shwe [Burma's Junta Supremo]   Burmafs most powerful general has ruled the country since 1992 and currently holds the governmentfs two highest posts—chairman of the State Peace and Development Council and commander-in-chief of the armed forces..@@ 88-Generation Students Group [Burmese Student Leaders] Charm Tong [Exiled Activist] Burmese Radio Service from Abroad [Media]

Aung San Suu Kyi Detention Extension Media Release from Burma Campaign UK Responding to newswire reports that Burma’s democracy leader has had her detention extended for a further year, Mark Farmaner, Campaigns Manager at the Burma Campaign UK said: “This extension demonstrates the regime has no intention of relinquishing power and that its so-called ‘road map’ to democracy is a sham. Unless the international community acts, Aung San Suu Kyi could spend the rest of her life under house arrest. It is time for the United Nations Security Council to pass a binding resolution requiring the restoration of democracy to...

Freedom for Aung San Suu Kyi is a precondition for progress In cruel solitude, denied visitors or even a telephone, a frail woman marks ten years as the political prisoner of a vicious and illegitimate military dictatorship. Since 1988, when she returned from Britain to her native Burma and, in response to a massacre of student demonstrators, formed the resolutely non-violent National League for Democracy, the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of those 16 years in prison or under house arrest. It is 15 years since the League astounded the junta by winning 80...

Mandela wins BBC's 'global election'   Mandela was selected by more than half the players Former South African President Nelson Mandela has topped a BBC poll to find the person most people would like to lead a fantasy world government.More than 15,000 people worldwide took part in the interactive Power Play game, in which players were invited to choose a team of 11 to run the world from a list of around 100 of the most powerful leaders, thinkers and other high-profile people on the planet. The second choice was former US President Bill Clinton. The winning 11 were...

Recently under the sponsorship of the Indian Embassy in Rangoon, "The Forgotten Hero," the Indian film about Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was shown to the public in Burma. It was screened on August 15, (India's Independence Day) free of charge. The $US5 million film partially shot in Burma, illustrates the life of Bose. Directed by Mr. Shyam Benegal, a part of the film was shot in Burma in December 2003 for 20 days. The great Indian war hero Subhas Chandra Bose may have spent his finest and fruitful days in Burma, but its capital city does not have any memorial...

A team of Malaysian lawyers is urging the Attorney General to drop a case involving 64 Burmese activists arrested while demonstrating outside the Burmese embassy in Kuala Lumpur in June. Latheefa Koya, one of the lawyers representing the detainees, confirmed that a formal request will be submitted as soon as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees confirms the activists as being persons of concern, refugees or asylum-seekers. The 64 were arrested on June 16 in front of the Malaysian capital’s Burmese embassy, where they were demanding the release of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently under...

Referred to by the Dalai Lama as his 'little sister' this Burmese freedom fighter has tirelessly worked for democracy in her country for the last 16 years... Danubyu, Myanmar. 5 April, 1989: two months before the Tiananmen Square massacre in nearby China. A woman walks down the middle of the street, accompanied by several men. Six soldiers of the State Law and Order Restoration Council - the junta which has crushed the democracy movement and killed thousands of people in Rangoon - order the group to stop. The group pays no heed. A young army captain whips out his revolver...

The U.N. envoy leading reconciliation efforts in Myanmar said Tuesday that its foreign minister refused to see him while at a regional conference, in a snub to international efforts to bring democracy in the military-ruled country. Envoy Razali Ismail had flown to Vientiane specifically to see Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win and persuade the junta to allow him to visit Myanmar and see pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest. Razali said Nyan Win sent a message to him saying, "he would be too busy" with engagements at this week's meeting in the Laotian capital of...

International Campaign for Freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma (USA) 3rd Day All six activists woke up at 5:00 a.m. After showering and snacking, at 6:50 a.m. they left U Min Lwin's house by car, headed for today's stop: in front of the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. They arrived near the embassy at 7:30 a.m. and found a parking space for their car within 15 minutes' walking distance from the British Embassy. After speaking with the authorities from the British Embassy, the activists were allowed to protest across the street from the front of the British Embassy....

Burmese Nobel Laureate Still Under House Arrest on 60th Birthday By Stephanie Ho /Washington 19 June 2005 Supporters of Burmese Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi issued fresh calls for her release, as she marked her 60th birthday Sunday, under house arrest in Rangoon. She has been detained for nearly 10 of the last 16 years. Protesters at a small rally in front of the Burmese Embassy in Washington Friday mixed a traditional happy birthday song to Aung San Suu Kyi with calls for her release. At the demonstration, Congressman Tom Lantos, who is the only Holocaust survivor in the...

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained for a total of9 years and 237 days Free Aung San Suu Kyi! Email General Than Shwe