Setback for Suu Kyi’s defence
PRO-DEMOCRACY leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s defence suffered a setback yesterday when the court rejected three out of four witnesses whom her lawyers sought to have testify, making it likely that the proceedings will finish this week.
If found guilty, Suu Kyi faces up to five years in jail.
Burma’s courts operate under the influence of the military and almost always deal harshly with political dissidents.
Nyan Win, one of Suu Kyi’s lawyers, said only legal expert Kyi Win would be allowed to testify.
Suu Kyi’s defence is trying to prove that her harbouring of an uninvited US man did not violate the conditions of her house arrest.
The court rejected the other witnesses, all members of Suu Kyi’s party, saying their testimony was aimed at “vexation or delay or for defeating the ends of justice”.
Critics say the junta is trying to keep Suu Kyi in detention during the elections that it has planned for next year.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in court again Today
Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is thought to be in the dock again for the eighth day of her trial. She is being tried for breaching the terms of her house arrest, after an American man arrived uninvited at her lakeside home in Rangoon. The man, John Yettaw, is also expected to testify on Wednesday.
The hearing will once again be closed to outside observers, although Ms Suu Kyi's lawyers believe the judges will reach a verdict fairly soon.
The trial has been widely condemned abroad as a ploy to keep her in detention until after the 2010 elections.
Ms Suu Kyi is the head ..of the opposition National League for Democracy Party, which disputes the legitimacy of the polls and the conditions in which the military junta want to hold them.
US condemnation
Ms Suu Kyi, 63, had been due for release on Wednesday after her latest six-year detention, but was re-arrested this month after Mr Yettaw's visit.
She took the stand for the first time on Tuesday to tell the court that she had not been immediately aware of the late-night visit but had been informed later by her assistant.
Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, faces up to five years in jail if convicted, and according to the BBC's South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head, a guilty verdict is widely expected.
US President Barack Obama called on Tuesday for her "immediate and unconditional" release.
"Aung San Suu Kyi's continued detention, isolation, and show trial based on spurious charges cast serious doubt on the Burmese regime's willingness to be a responsible member of the international community," he said in a statement.
President Obama's comments are the latest of many from around the world.
On taking office, the US president ordered a review of US policy towards the military government, which has relied heavily on sanctions and isolating the ruling generals - a policy that is now widely judged to have been ineffective.
But the military's determination to keep Aung San Suu Kyi locked up will make it difficult for the US administration to sell a more nuanced approach towards Burma to an outraged American public, our correspondent says.
=========================================
Security Council wants Myanmar's Suu Kyi released
2009-05-26 00:55:00
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council on Friday called for the release of all political prisoners in Myanmar including Aung San Suu Kyi and expressed concern at the "political impact" of the pro-democracy leader's trial.
A press statement approved by all 15 council members reiterated the need for Myanmar's military leaders "to create the necessary conditions for a genuine dialogue" with Suu Kyi and other opposition and minority groups "to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation."
The United States had initially urged the council to adopt a stronger presidential statement, which becomes part of the council's official record. But diplomats said it was downgraded to a press statement to get approval from China and Russia, which have close ties to Myanmar's military government.
The statement was issued as a court in Myanmar accepted the charge that Suu Kyi violated the terms of her house arrest after an American man swam to and entered her lakeside home earlier this month. She has been in detention without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years, and the court's decision means that her trial will likely proceed to a verdict that could see her jailed for up to five years.
Earlier Friday, the ruling junta alleged that anti-government forces engineered the visit to Suu Kyi's house to embarrass the regime and aggravate its relations with the West. Suu Kyi, two women who live with her and the American have all pleaded innocent.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. The current junta seized power in 1988 and refused to honor the results of a 1990 general election won by Suu Kyi's party. If she is imprisoned as a result of the current trial, she will be out of the government's way during upcoming elections in 2010.
In the press statement, "the members of the Security Council express their concern about the political impact of recent developments relating to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi."
Council members reiterated the importance of their first-ever statement on Myanmar in October 2007 and a second presidential statement in May 2008 "and, in this regard, reiterate the importance of the release of all political prisoners." Their statement did not single out Suu Kyi.
But Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers said "the reiteration of our call for the release of all political prisoners is very pointed when the most prominent of those political prisoners is standing in the dock on, frankly, charges which stand no credibility."
U.S. deputy ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo said the council has now added its voice to those of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other leaders from the region and elsewhere.
So far, however, Myanmar's government has ignored all appeals for Suu Kyi's release.
"We will continue speaking out to get that impact that we need," DiCarlo said. "We know Rome wasn't built in a day and one statement isn't necessarily going to do the trick but we will continue to do so."
=========================================
BURMA: BATTLE FOR DEMOCRACY
Jail term will not silence Suu Kyi
REALPOLITIK: Trevor Royle
WHEN I heard that the Burmese authorities had arrested Aung San Suu Kyi for the umpteenth time, I almost felt sorry for those hapless generals. It was only a momentary sensation, mind you, but it helped to flag up the dilemma both sides are facing in this absurd confrontation. Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the few truly good people living today, a virtuous woman who practises Mahatma Gandhi's policy of passive resistance and in so doing represents the democratic aspirations of her fellow Burmese citizens.
Her persecutors are a vicious bunch of unelected soldiers who have turned this beautiful country into a living hell. Burma - or Myanmar - is isolated from the rest of the world and its people have been repressed for far too many years. Apart from the brave Buddhist priests who risked their lives to highlight the country's plight a year or so ago, this slight, saintly 63-year-old woman remains their best hope of salvation. The generals may have silenced her for the time being, but, make no mistake, in her case, stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.
The reason for Aung San Suu Kyi's confinement in the grisly Insein jail in Rangoon is ridiculous. A deluded US war veteran called John Yettaw swam across the lake beside her compound and demanded from his unwilling host some kind of absolution for his role in Vietnam and the more recent death of his son. He probably meant well, more likely than not he is suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome, but whatever the reason for his crazy actions, he broke the terms of Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest and so she has to pay the penalty.
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Yettaw is neither better nor worse than any number of groupies who want to get close to the object of their obsession, but his unexpected watery appearance gave the generals the pretext that they needed to keep her in check. Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest was due to be reviewed this week, but now she is facing criminal charges - a good outcome for her jailers if they want to ensure her silence ahead of next year's elections.
They can't afford to allow her to return to public life because they know that while she is a beacon of hope they symbolise nothing but despair.
As long as Aung San Suu Kyi is out of sight, the generals hope that she will be out of mind, but on this point their reasoning is askew. Keeping her in Insein is not an option. All along the generals have conceded that placing Aung San Suu Kyi in irons would create such opprobrium that they would have to bow to international pressure. That's why house arrest suits them. It removes her from the public gaze, but it doesn't seem excessively brutal. She can receive limited numbers of carefully vetted visitors, she has restricted access to the outside world but to all intents and purposes she is a bird in a less than gilded cage.
That's the theory and down the years despots have attempted to silence their opponents by using dungeons of one kind or another. Sometimes they succeed - Imre Nagy's arrest and eventual execution by the Soviets in Budapest in 1958 springs to mind - but in Aung San Suu Kyi's case, the Burmese generals are on a hiding to nothing. Ever since she returned to Burma 21 years ago to renew the flame of independence originally lit by her father Aung San, she has opposed the rule of the generals. By way of response, they simply didn't know what to do with her and the years of house arrest and repression have done nothing to silence her.
More than that, she has come to represent everything that her jailers are not. Her moral courage is beyond praise. Her quiet authority grows with every attempt made by her oppressors to try to silence her. Her resilience is a shining example to others and a reminder that although the generals have the guns and the big battalions, she possesses an integrity which can only be earned the hard way. Ranged against her, the generals are little more than moral pygmies, diminished by their many oppressions and shamed by their refusal to take heed of a good woman.
But, as ever, Aung San Suu Kyi has provided the last word and it's one that should be heeded, not just in her own country but elsewhere. It's fear that corrupts, not power, she wrote in her memoirs, adding the thought that "fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it". Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
==================================
American: God asked me to protect Suu Kyi
The Myanmar court trying opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi heard testimony Wednesday from the man who swam to her house, sparking her trial on subversion charges. full story
updated 1 day ago
Obama urges Myanmar to release Aung Sang Suu Kyi
President Obama called Tuesday for the immediate and unconditional release of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is on trial for subversion.
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updated 1 day ago
Myanmar's Suu Kyi: I did not violate house arrest
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi took the stand for the first time Tuesday and told a Myanmar court that she did not violate her house arrest when she offered temporary shelter to an American man who swam to her lakeside home.
Video
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updated 2 days ago
Myanmar: Suu Kyi to take the stand at trial
Democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi plans to take the stand Tuesday to defend herself against subversion charges, her spokesman told CNN Monday.
Video
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updated Sat May 23, 2009
Myanmar: Suu Kyi pleads not guilty at trial, party says
Aung San Suu Kyi declared herself innocent of charges she finally heard in court for the first time Friday, the fifth day of her trial on allegations of subversion.
Video
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updated Thur May 21, 2009
U.S. man tried with Suu Kyi wanted to film her
The American man who swam two miles across a lake to visit Aung San Suu Kyi apparently wanted to film the detained Myanmar opposition leader, who refused his request, according to footage played during her trial Thursday.
Video
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updated Thur May 21, 2009
British envoy: Suu Kyi 'robust,' 'in good spirits'
A British envoy who attended the third day of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's trial on Wednesday said she appeared "robust" and in a positive frame of mind.
Video
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updated Wed May 20, 2009
Suu Kyi's trial may end sooner than expected
Prosecutors in Myanmar picked up the pace of calling witnesses to the stand Tuesday, offering hope to Aung San Suu Kyi's supporters that the opposition leader's trial -- which nine Nobel laureates have called "a mockery" -- may end soon.
Video
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updated Tue May 19, 2009
Aung San Suu Kyi: Myanmar's democracy face
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate now facing trial on charges of government subversion, has been the face of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement and the focus of a global campaign to free her.
Video
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updated Tue May 19, 2009
Myanmar junta tries Suu Kyi and her U.S. visitor
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and an American man who swam to her lakeside home went on trial in the military dictatorship Monday behind closed doors inside a prison compound.
Video
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updated 2 hours, 48 minutes ago
American: God asked me to protect Suu Kyi
The Myanmar court trying opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi heard testimony Wednesday from the man who swam to her house, sparking her trial on subversion charges.
Video
document.write(cnnRenderMTTimeStamp(1243392060000));
updated 1 day ago
Obama urges Myanmar to release Aung Sang Suu Kyi
President Obama called Tuesday for the immediate and unconditional release of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is on trial for subversion.
document.write(cnnRenderMTTimeStamp(1243334640000));
updated 1 day ago
Myanmar's Suu Kyi: I did not violate house arrest
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi took the stand for the first time Tuesday and told a Myanmar court that she did not violate her house arrest when she offered temporary shelter to an American man who swam to her lakeside home.
Video
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updated 2 days ago
Myanmar: Suu Kyi to take the stand at trial
Democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi plans to take the stand Tuesday to defend herself against subversion charges, her spokesman told CNN Monday.
Video
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updated Sat May 23, 2009
Myanmar: Suu Kyi pleads not guilty at trial, party says
Aung San Suu Kyi declared herself innocent of charges she finally heard in court for the first time Friday, the fifth day of her trial on allegations of subversion.
Video
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updated Thur May 21, 2009
U.S. man tried with Suu Kyi wanted to film her
The American man who swam two miles across a lake to visit Aung San Suu Kyi apparently wanted to film the detained Myanmar opposition leader, who refused his request, according to footage played during her trial Thursday.
Video
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updated Thur May 21, 2009
British envoy: Suu Kyi 'robust,' 'in good spirits'
A British envoy who attended the third day of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's trial on Wednesday said she appeared "robust" and in a positive frame of mind.
Video
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updated Wed May 20, 2009
Suu Kyi's trial may end sooner than expected
Prosecutors in Myanmar picked up the pace of calling witnesses to the stand Tuesday, offering hope to Aung San Suu Kyi's supporters that the opposition leader's trial -- which nine Nobel laureates have called "a mockery" -- may end soon.
Video
document.write(cnnRenderMTTimeStamp(1242730860000));
updated Tue May 19, 2009
Aung San Suu Kyi: Myanmar's democracy face
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate now facing trial on charges of government subversion, has been the face of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement and the focus of a global campaign to free her.
Video
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updated Tue May 19, 2009
Myanmar junta tries Suu Kyi and her U.S. visitor
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and an American man who swam to her lakeside home went on trial in the military dictatorship Monday behind closed doors inside a prison compound.
Video
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updated Mon May 18, 2009
Suu Kyi to face two judges at jail court
Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi will be joined by her two housemaids and an American man who swam to her house when she confronts two judges in a Myanmar jailhouse courtroom on Monday, one of her lawyers said.
Video
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updated Mon May 18, 2009
Myanmar junta to try opposition leader and her American visitor
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and an American man who recently swam to her lakeside home are scheduled to stand trial Monday.
Video
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updated Mon May 18, 2009
Neighbors describe man at center of Suu Kyi case
Tucked away in the woods of central Missouri, obscured by tall trees and broken-down cars, is the mobile home of the U.S. citizen being detained in Myanmar.
Video
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updated Mon May 18, 2009
Myanmar democracy leader facing trial after American's swim
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will stand trial Monday for an incident in which an American allegedly swam across a lake and stayed for two days in her closely guarded residence, where she is under house arrest.
Video
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updated Sat May 16, 2009
American who swam to Suu Kyi's home faces 3 charges
Three charges have been filed against a Missouri man who is accused of swimming across a lake and sneaking into the home of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi while she was under house arrest, a U.S. Embassy official said Friday.
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updated Thur May 14, 2009
Suu Kyi to face charges, supporters say
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is to be taken to a prison courtroom in Myanmar Thursday after an American was arrested for allegedly sneaking into the home where she is under house arrest, a spokesman for her political party said.
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updated Thur May 14, 2009
Embassy confirms meeting with American detained in Myanmar
A U.S. Embassy official in Myanmar met Wednesday with a detained American suspected of sneaking into the home of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate under house arrest by the government.
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updated Tue May 12, 2009
Spokesman: Aung San Suu Kyi's health better
Nobel Prize-winning democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi's health has improved, and there's no cause for concern, a spokesman said Tuesday.
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updated Tue May 12, 2009
Suu Kyi's doctor allowed back in after delay
Nobel Prize-winning democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi met with her doctor Monday after being barred from seeing him over the weekend, a spokesman for her party told CNN.
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updated Thur May 7, 2009
U.S. man arrested for entering Suu Kyi home
About 20 police officers entered the tightly guarded home of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday, a day after authorities detained an American swimming away from the property across a lake.
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updated Tue May 5, 2009
Attorney: Suu Kyi detention breaks Myanmar law
A U.N. group has ruled that the detention of Myanmar democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi is illegal under the laws of her own nation, her lawyer said.
Video
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updated Mon February 2, 2009
Myanmar's pro-democracy leader meets U.N. envoy
Myanmar's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and five senior members of her opposition party met with U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari at the state guesthouse on Monday, a party spokesman said.
Video
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updated Sat October 11, 2008
Time.com: Lawyer Appeals for Freedom of Myanmar's Suu Kyi
A lawyer for Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Friday that he has filed an appeal with the country's military government against her detention
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updated Wed September 24, 2008
Time.com: Burma Frees Democracy Fighter
As the first anniversary of the Saffron Revolution nears, Burma's military regime releases over 9000 prisoners, including the nation's longest serving political prisoner, U Win Tin
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updated Tue August 26, 2008
U.N. envoy meets with Myanmar opposition
U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari wrapped up a six-day visit to Myanmar Saturday, where he met with the ruling military junta and the party of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Video
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updated Mon August 11, 2008
Aung San Suu Kyi detention extended
Myanmar's military rulers have extended the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for another year, a source who spoke to a member of her political party told CNN on Monday.
Video
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updated Wed May 28, 2008
Anger at extension of Suu Kyi's detention
Myanmar's military rulers have extended the five-year detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, prompting a chorus of international disapproval.
Video
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updated Thur March 6, 2008
CNN Student News: Profiles in Women's History
The following profiles feature prominent women in the fields of politics, law, sports, science and business.
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updated Wed January 30, 2008
Suu Kyi meets supporters in Myanmar
The leading champion of democracy in Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, emerged from house arrest Wednesday to meet with political supporters, a diplomatic source told CNN.
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updated Fri January 11, 2008
Myanmar opposition leader meets with government
Opposition leader and human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi was taken from her home, where she is under house arrest, for a meeting with a government official on Friday, witnesses said.
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updated Fri November 9, 2007
Suu Kyi 'optimistic' after talks
Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Friday she was "very optimistic" about the process of dialogue with the country's ruling military junta after she was allowed to meet with members of her political party for the first time in three years, a party spokesman said.
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updated Fri November 9, 2007
Opposition leader to cooperate with Myanmar government
Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is "ready to cooperate" with the government and is committed to pursuing a dialogue with the ruling junta, according to a statement the United Nations' special envoy to Myanmar read Thursday on her behalf.
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updated Fri October 26, 2007
Suu Kyi meets with junta liaison
Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- under house arrest in Yangon for the past three years -- met with the country's newly-appointed liaison officer Thursday, Myanmar's state-run television reported.
VideoPhotos
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updated Wed October 3, 2007
U.N. envoy in second Suu Kyi talks
United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari left Myanmar Tuesday after talks with the country's junta chief and pro-democracy leader aimed at ending a brutal crackdown on widespread protests.
VideoPhotos
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updated Wed October 3, 2007
U.N. envoy meets with Myanmar junta chief, democracy leader
A U.N. envoy remained tightlipped Wednesday about his meetings with Myanmar's junta chief and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, a highly watched mission that followed the regime's deadly crackdown on democracy protesters.
VideoPhotos
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updated Thur September 6, 2007
Time.com: Laura Bush's Burmese Crusade
The First Lady talks about her rare bit of international political activism
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updated Wed August 29, 2007
Jim Carrey: Help Aung San Suu Kyi
Jim Carrey has made a straight-to-YouTube video. And it's not funny at all.
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updated Sat June 10, 2006
Suu Kyi doing OK, party says
Aung San Suu Kyi, the leading dissident from Myanmar who was reportedly in need of medical care, is doing "all right," a senior member of her group has told CNN.
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updated Sat May 27, 2006
Myanmar extends Suu Kyi detention
Myanmar has extended the detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Home Affairs Ministry source said Saturday.
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updated Sun November 27, 2005
Report: Suu Kyi arrest extended
Amid reports that the house arrest of Nobel laureate and democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi has been extended for another year, eyewitnesses tell CNN security at her home was beefed up on Sunday.
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updated Sun June 19, 2005
Rice: Happy 60th to Suu Kyi
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has sent birthday greetings to Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who celebrates her 60th birthday still under house arrest.
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updated Fri December 3, 2004
U.S. 'concerned' on Suu Kyi's fate
The United States has added its voice to a chorus of international concern over the continued detention of Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
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updated Tue May 18, 2004
U.N. pressure on Myanmar amid talks
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan is urging southeast Asian nations to pressure Myanmar to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
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updated Fri May 14, 2004
Opposition quits Myanmar convention
Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy party has pulled out of next week's national convention, party chairman Aung Shwe says.
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updated Thur April 22, 2004
U.N. condemns Myanmar abuses
The top U.N. human rights body has condemned Myanmar's military junta just days ahead of the likely release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
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updated Mon April 19, 2004
Suu Kyi 'may be freed soon'
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi may be freed from house arrest in the coming days, the chairman of the National League for Democracy said.
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updated Sat April 17, 2004
Myanmar reopens opposition HQ
Myanmar's military government has reopened the headquarters for the opposition's National League for Democracy almost a year after shutting it down.
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updated Sun April 4, 2004
Fresh calls for Suu Kyi release
Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy has called for the immediate release of their leader Aung San Suu Kyi after the military government backed away from suggestions her freedom was imminent.
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updated Sat April 3, 2004
Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi
Her supporters call her simply "The Lady."
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updated Sat April 3, 2004
Myanmar reverses on Suu Kyi
Myanmar has apparently backed down from indications that it would release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi before May 17 as part of the country's efforts to move toward democracy.
KEY STORIES
Aung San Suu Kyi denies charges
Suu Kyi 'composed' at Burma trial
Western outcry over Suu Kyi case
Burma's NLD sets election demands
Running scared Why Burma's generals are so afraid of Aung San Suu Kyi
Burma tense as Suu Kyi is tried
Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi
Profile: The 'intruder'
Suu Kyi: A life in pictures
FEATURES
Interactive map Life in some of the areas worst-hit by last year's cyclone
Inside Burma's Insein prison
Photojournal: One family's struggle
Did the cyclone change Burma's junta?
Capturing Burma protests on film
BACKGROUND
Burma's hardline generals
Burma v Myanmar
Profile: 88 Generation
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Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in court again Today
Indonesia to return 114 Rohingyas to Bangladesh
BANDA ACEH.., Indonesia (Reuters) -Indonesia will return to Bangladesh 114 Rohingya boat people who arrived earlier this year in rickety wooden boats, while the status of nearly 280 others is still being considered, officials said on Monday.
Two groups of Rohingyas, an oppressed Muslim minority from army-ruled Myanmar, washed up off Aceh province on Sumatra island in January and February, many in pitiful condition.
“We have verified the Rohingyas and 114 of them are Bangladeshis. They are willing to be returned to Bangladesh,” Mohamad Asruchin, director for Central and South Asia at Indonesia’s foreign ministry, told reporters in Banda Aceh.
Thousands of Rohingya now live in Bangladesh, having fled northwest Myanmar after decades of abuse and harassment.
Asruchin said some of the Rohingyas who had come from Myanmar were refusing to return.
Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said Dhaka would verify the identity of the Rohingyas from Bangladesh and the two governments were discussing who would foot the bill to fly them home.
Nearly 280 others were still undergoing a screening process by the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, said Faizasyah.
Myanmar and Bangladesh had agreed to take their citizens back, although Yangon had said it would only take Rohingyas with identification papers.
None of the Rohingyas arrived with any documents.
Indonesia had earlier said the boat people were economic migrants who should be deported, but after a public outcry later agreed that the UNHCR should verify the identity of the boat people, some of whom said they faced certain death if sent home.
Faizasyah said the UNHCR would seek a third country that was willing to accept them once a person was given refugee status because Indonesia had no policy of accepting refugees.
Rickety wooden boats crowded with hundreds of Rohingya have reached Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in recent months, the latest in annual migrations of people in search of better lives.
Their desperate plight was highlighted in January when hundreds were feared drowned after they were towed out to sea by the Thai military and abandoned in engine-less boats.
The Thai government has insisted the Rohingya were treated humanely and given ample supplies of food and water.
According to the UNHCR, 230,000 Rohingya live in Bangladesh.
(Additional reporting by Olivia Rondonuwu in Jakarta)(
======================================================================
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
19 Bangladeshis on boat found in Indonesian waters( New Age, Dhaka 8.1.2008)
Relocation of Rohingyas in a Deserted Island in Thailand
In response to Berlin Khin Maung Saw’s 16 pages
The United States wants Mynamar to stop hounding Rohingya Muslims, a statel…
==============================================================================
News Focus: around 114 Rohingya people of Bangladeshi nationality to be deported By Eliswan Azly
Jakarta (ANTARA News)..- Around 114 Rohingya boat people of Bangladeshi nationality will be deported from Aceh to their own country in a not too distance future.
Central and South Asian Affairs Director of the Foreign Ministry M Asruchin said after the meeting with the Aceh Governor in Banda Aceh on Monday that Indonesia would repatriate only 114 of the 391 Rohingya boat people who had been staying in Aceh since January 2009.
The 114 deportees were Rohingya people of Bangladeshi nationality. They would be repatriated to Bangladesh with their own approval, he said.
He added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had conducted a verification of the Rohingya boat people who landed in Sabang and Idi Rayeuk, East Aceh district. Of the Rohingya boat people, 114 were Bangladeshi citizens.
According to Asruchin, the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) will take over the problem of the Rohingya boat people who refused to return to their country.
"If I am not mistaken the UNHCR is already there, and so the boat people will be declared as refugees. Usually, a third country prepared to accommodate them will be sought," he said.
In January 2009, 193 Rohingyas were rescued by the Indonesian navy after they sailed into Indonesian waters near Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
Indonesian authorities have refused to grant them asylum to any member of the first group, saying that they are economic migrants, not refugees fleeing persecution.
Thailand`s House committee on security said that international human traffickers were behind the massive influx of Rohingya boat people, who said that they were fleeing discrimination in Burma`s Arakan State.
A rising tide of Rohingya refugees has been fleeing Burma to the neighboring countries of Indonesia, Malaysia and India`s Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Their numbers usually increase after November, when the seas are at their calmest. Many seek to escape the economic hardship of their restricted lives and turn to brokers to find a better life in countries such as Malaysia and Thailand.
Earlier, the Australian Federation of Islamic Council (AFIC) hoped that the Indonesian government would not deport the Rohingya refugees because their life`s safety would be at stake.
AFIC President Ikebal Adam Patel in a letter to the Indonesian Embasy in Canberra, Australia, with a copy for Antara in February said that the organization urged the Indonesian government to accommodate the Rohingya refugees within an unlimited time and not to be to hastily deport them to Myanmar.
"We hope that the government can understand this and show their care to the problem confronting the Rohingya refugees who had been often intimidated, kidnapped, raped and persecuted by the Myanmarese military junta," Patel said.
However, Indonesia is expected not to repatriate the Rohingya refugees to the Myanmarese tyrannical military junta for fear of possible execution there.
A similar call was made by the Ukhuwah Jama`ah Muslimin (Hizbullah), a domestic Islamic organization which gave greater sympathy to the fate of the Muslim Rohingya refugees.
Dr Djoko Wiyono, the head of the Ukhuwah Jama`ah Muslimin (Hizbullah), said that the foreign affairs minister should not deport the Muslim Rohingya refugees and should not categorize them as economic migrants.
Wiyono also appealed to the government to form an independent fact-finding team to find the real reasons of the Rohingyas for fleeing Myanmar, their home country.
He called on the government and the Aceh provincial administration to give the refugees protection, clothes, food, medicines and other assistance especially for their children, women, and elders.
Deporting Rohingya asylum seekers who were stranded in Aceh Province recently will be perceived as an inhuman act by a country which fails to understand the problem confronting the Rohingya refugees.
As many as 391 Rohingya boat people are being accommodated in two places in the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam after being found floating adrift in boats without an engine.
They were stranded in northern tip of Sumatra island in two batches. The first batch of 193 people was rescued on January 7, 2009 on Weh island, while the second batch with 198 boat people was found and rescused on February 3, 2009 in Idi Rayeuk, East Aceh.
In response to the previous call from many organizations, Asruchin said there was nothing to worry about the deportation of Rohingya boat people, because those who will be sent back to Bangladesh are only Rohingya of Bangladeshi nationals.
"So if they are repatriated to their Bangladesh, they will be safe there, as they are not under persecution or under intimidation in their country," he said.
Perhaps the Rohingya boat people from Myanmar should not be deported and the government has seriously been handling their fate with the UNHCR, Asruchin said.
The Muslim Rohingyas have been for generations denied of their Myanmarese citizenship and were reportedly being tortured and facing religious persecution and forced labor by the Myanmarese ruling junta.
However, the Rohingyas, totaling around 800,000 people in Myanmar are not recognized by the Myanmarese military junta regime as Myanmarese citizens, thus making them stateless. The military junta regime has brutally repressed them, and millions have risked their lives fleeing their country.
The Rohingyas, who are believed to be 7th century Arab settlers whose state was conquered by Burma in 1784, faced religious persecution because they were Muslims in a Buddhist majority country. The Human Rights Watch said in its latest annual report they faced forced relocation, land seizures, and denial of citizenship and identity papers.(*)
TRIAL OF AUNG SAN SYU KYI
Suu Kyi denies breach
May 26, 2009
Yangoon_Myanmar..
Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi told a prison
court on Tuesday she did not violate her house arrest when she gave
'temporary shelter' to a surprise American visitor earlier this month.
'I didn't,' the Nobel Peace Prize winner replied when a judge at the court
in Yangon's notorious Insein jail asked her whether she had breached the
terms of the restriction order under which she is detained.
Aung San Suu was taking the stand for the first time since Myanmar's
military regime charged her after American army veteran John Yettaw swam
across a lake to reach her house on May 4 and spent two days there.
'I didn't know about it immediately. I was informed about it at 5am. My
assistant told me that a man had arrived,' the 63-year-old told the court.
Aung San Suu Kyi faces up to five years in jail if convicted. She has spent
13 of the last 19 years in detention, most of them at her crumbling house on
Yangon's Inya Lake.
Appearing frail and pale but managing an occasional smile, Suu Kyi was
questioned for less than half an hour about Yettaw, who swam uninvited to
her lakeside house.
Her testimony is scheduled to continue on Wednesday.
The charges against Suu Kyi are widely considered a pretext to keep her
detained ahead of elections the military government has planned for next
year. She pleaded innocent on Friday, but a guilty verdict is expected.
Her latest round of house arrest - extended every year since 2003 - was
supposed to end this week, and a top police official said on Tuesday that
the government had considered releasing her on 'humanitarian grounds'.
But the junta cancelled that decision when the 'unexpected incident of the
intrusion of the American happened,' Brig Gen Myint Thein said. -- AFP, AP
__
Reporters and diplomats, including a reporter for The Associated Press, were
allowed into the courtroom for Tuesday's session, the second time during the
trial that such rare access has been granted.
'Thank you for your concern and support. It is always good to see people
from the outside world,' she told reporters and diplomats before being
escorted out of the court by four policewomen.
'Given her ordeal, she is in reasonably good shape,' said British Ambassador
Mark Canning, who met with Suu Kyi last week.
____
Straitstimes..
Myanmar lifts house arrest, but still detained
26 May 2009
YANGON - MYANMAR authorities lifted the house arrest of opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday, her lawyer said, but she remained in detention
while her trial continues.
The Nobel Peace laureate, whose house arrest was due to expire on Wednesday
after six years in detention, is accused of violating the terms of the order
by allowing an American intruder to stay in her home in early May.
'The house arrest has been lifted, but she is still under detention. I don't
know whether to be happy or sorry,' Nyan Win, one of her lawyers, told
reporters after Tuesday's court session.
He said Police Brigadier General Myint Thein read the order to Suu Kyi at
her prison house in Yangon's notorious Central Insein Prison.
Suu Kyi, who has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years under some form of
detention, is widely expected to be found guilty and faces up to five years
in prison.
Western governments have denounced the trial as charade to keep the
charismatic National League for Democracy (NLD) leader in detention during
elections next year. -- REUTERS
____
Elder statesmen call for Suu Kyi's release
26 May 2009
LONDON - A GROUP of former world leaders and Nobel peace laureates called on
Tuesday for the release of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The group, known as the Elders and founded by South Africa's Nelson Mandela,
said their fellow group member Suu Kyi should be freed on Wednesday as her
latest 6-year period of house arrest is due to expire.
The group's chairman, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, said Suu Kyi
was a symbol of hope for her nation and the world.
'We are moved by her courage and dignity. She shows the same steel as Nelson
Mandela, who endured 27 years in prison. Like him, she has right and
goodness on her side,' he said in a statement released during a meeting of
the group in Morocco.
Former US President Jimmy Carter said: 'Aung San Suu Kyi is a hero for those
who believe in human rights and democracy.'
The Elders, who are meeting in Marrakech, kept an empty chair for Suu Kyi,
as is usual at their meetings.
The Elders urged governments in South East Asia to make it clear to
Myanmar's leaders that their actions were jeopardising the legitimacy of
elections due in 2010, the statement said. -- REUTERS
____
Anwaribrahimblog..
Live radio interview on BBC World Update 5:00 PM Tuesday
26 May 09
Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim can be heard live at 5:00 PM (GMT + 8) on BBC World
Service's news program, World Update.
Click here to listen
bbc.co.uk..
Office of Anwar Ibrahim
____
Listen to World Update
BBC News..
Malaysian Opposition MPs To Help Free Suu Kyi
Clik Her More News..
600,000 Sign Petition For Release Of Myanmar's Political Prisoners
More News..
Asia, Europe ministers call for Myanmar prisoner release
Red More..
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UN Security Council Issues a Statement on Suu Kyi
23 May 2009, Irrawaddy news,
WASHINGTON.. — The 15-member UN Security Council on Friday expressed its concern about the trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the current political situation in Burma in a council statement.
The Security Council president for the month of May, Ambassador Vitaly Churkin of Russia, said: “The members of the Security Council express their concern about the political impact of recent developments relating to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.”
Reaffirming the sentiments of the previous two statements issued by the Security Council in 2007 and 2008, Churkin said the council reiterated the importance of the release of all political prisoners.
However, unlike previous statements of concern, the statement was downgraded from a presidential statement to a statement issued to the press.
“The members of the Security Council reiterate the need for the Government of Myanmar [Burma] to create the necessary conditions for a genuine dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all concerned parties and ethnic groups in order to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation with the support of the United Nations,” he said.
Churkin said the Security Council members affirmed their commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Burma and said the future of the country lies in the hands of all of its people.
Talking to reporters outside the Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York, US Alternate Representative for Political Affairs Rosemary A DiCarlo expressed satisfaction with the Security Council’s decision to issue the statement.
During the past two days, the United States, Britain and France had consulted with other members of the Security Council on the Burma issue.
Because of stiff opposition from two veto-wielding members, the council was only able to issue a council statement on this occasion, DiCarlo said. The Burmese military junta in the past has simply ignored such statements from the UN.
Asked if she thought the council statement would have any impact on the Burmese military government, DiCarlo said: “We will continue speaking out to get that impact that we need. We know Rome wasn’t built in a day, and one statement isn’t necessarily going to do the trick. But we will continue to do so.”
Noting that countries who normally do not want to comment on such issues felt the need to comment this time around, the US diplomat said the US-led group obtained some good support from the Asian region.
“As I said, we’ve worked very collaboratively with other members of the Council. And we’ve made a very clear statement and tied it very clearly to the developments surrounding Aung San Suu Kyi,” DiCarlo said.
“The Council needed to speak out on this issue and speak with one voice. We’ve expressed our concern about the political impact of the recent developments related to Aung San Suu Kyi,” she said.
“We’ve reaffirmed our previous statements and called again for the release of all political prisoners, and made very clear that the Burmese regime needs to create the right conditions for a genuine dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and with other concerned parties,” she said.
Talking to reporters, the British ambassador to the UN, Sir John Sawers, said the recent developments in Burma have “put the spotlight on the inhumanity of the regime” and “their failure” to follow the guidance not just from their neighbors and Asean, but also from all members of the UN Security Council that they should pursue a genuine national reconciliation and should create conditions for that.
“It is inconceivable that the trial and imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi can in any way contribute to that,” he said.
“She is the most prominent of the opposition leaders in Myanmar. She heads the party that won the only credible elections in recent memory in Myanmar and the regime needs to comes to terms with that, but has failed to do so,” Sawers said.
The British ambassador said the statement issued by the Security Council is an important expression of its concern on the recent developments in Burma.
===============================================================================
May 26, 2009
Yangoon_Myanmar..
Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi told a prison
court on Tuesday she did not violate her house arrest when she gave
'temporary shelter' to a surprise American visitor earlier this month.
'I didn't,' the Nobel Peace Prize winner replied when a judge at the court
in Yangon's notorious Insein jail asked her whether she had breached the
terms of the restriction order under which she is detained.
Aung San Suu was taking the stand for the first time since Myanmar's
military regime charged her after American army veteran John Yettaw swam
across a lake to reach her house on May 4 and spent two days there.
'I didn't know about it immediately. I was informed about it at 5am. My
assistant told me that a man had arrived,' the 63-year-old told the court.
Aung San Suu Kyi faces up to five years in jail if convicted. She has spent
13 of the last 19 years in detention, most of them at her crumbling house on
Yangon's Inya Lake.
Appearing frail and pale but managing an occasional smile, Suu Kyi was
questioned for less than half an hour about Yettaw, who swam uninvited to
her lakeside house.
Her testimony is scheduled to continue on Wednesday.
The charges against Suu Kyi are widely considered a pretext to keep her
detained ahead of elections the military government has planned for next
year. She pleaded innocent on Friday, but a guilty verdict is expected.
Her latest round of house arrest - extended every year since 2003 - was
supposed to end this week, and a top police official said on Tuesday that
the government had considered releasing her on 'humanitarian grounds'.
But the junta cancelled that decision when the 'unexpected incident of the
intrusion of the American happened,' Brig Gen Myint Thein said. -- AFP, AP
__
Reporters and diplomats, including a reporter for The Associated Press, were
allowed into the courtroom for Tuesday's session, the second time during the
trial that such rare access has been granted.
'Thank you for your concern and support. It is always good to see people
from the outside world,' she told reporters and diplomats before being
escorted out of the court by four policewomen.
'Given her ordeal, she is in reasonably good shape,' said British Ambassador
Mark Canning, who met with Suu Kyi last week.
____
Straitstimes..
Myanmar lifts house arrest, but still detained
26 May 2009
YANGON - MYANMAR authorities lifted the house arrest of opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday, her lawyer said, but she remained in detention
while her trial continues.
The Nobel Peace laureate, whose house arrest was due to expire on Wednesday
after six years in detention, is accused of violating the terms of the order
by allowing an American intruder to stay in her home in early May.
'The house arrest has been lifted, but she is still under detention. I don't
know whether to be happy or sorry,' Nyan Win, one of her lawyers, told
reporters after Tuesday's court session.
He said Police Brigadier General Myint Thein read the order to Suu Kyi at
her prison house in Yangon's notorious Central Insein Prison.
Suu Kyi, who has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years under some form of
detention, is widely expected to be found guilty and faces up to five years
in prison.
Western governments have denounced the trial as charade to keep the
charismatic National League for Democracy (NLD) leader in detention during
elections next year. -- REUTERS
____
Elder statesmen call for Suu Kyi's release
26 May 2009
LONDON - A GROUP of former world leaders and Nobel peace laureates called on
Tuesday for the release of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The group, known as the Elders and founded by South Africa's Nelson Mandela,
said their fellow group member Suu Kyi should be freed on Wednesday as her
latest 6-year period of house arrest is due to expire.
The group's chairman, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, said Suu Kyi
was a symbol of hope for her nation and the world.
'We are moved by her courage and dignity. She shows the same steel as Nelson
Mandela, who endured 27 years in prison. Like him, she has right and
goodness on her side,' he said in a statement released during a meeting of
the group in Morocco.
Former US President Jimmy Carter said: 'Aung San Suu Kyi is a hero for those
who believe in human rights and democracy.'
The Elders, who are meeting in Marrakech, kept an empty chair for Suu Kyi,
as is usual at their meetings.
The Elders urged governments in South East Asia to make it clear to
Myanmar's leaders that their actions were jeopardising the legitimacy of
elections due in 2010, the statement said. -- REUTERS
____
Anwaribrahimblog..
Live radio interview on BBC World Update 5:00 PM Tuesday
26 May 09
Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim can be heard live at 5:00 PM (GMT + 8) on BBC World
Service's news program, World Update.
Click here to listen
bbc.co.uk..
Office of Anwar Ibrahim
____
Listen to World Update
BBC News..
Malaysian Opposition MPs To Help Free Suu Kyi
Clik Her More News..
600,000 Sign Petition For Release Of Myanmar's Political Prisoners
More News..
Asia, Europe ministers call for Myanmar prisoner release
Red More..
------------------------------------------------------------------
The Berita Malaysia / bmalaysia mailing lists
============================================
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subscribe/unsubscribe..
Yahoo News..
------------------------------------------------------------------
UN Security Council Issues a Statement on Suu Kyi
23 May 2009, Irrawaddy news,
WASHINGTON.. — The 15-member UN Security Council on Friday expressed its concern about the trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the current political situation in Burma in a council statement.
The Security Council president for the month of May, Ambassador Vitaly Churkin of Russia, said: “The members of the Security Council express their concern about the political impact of recent developments relating to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.”
Reaffirming the sentiments of the previous two statements issued by the Security Council in 2007 and 2008, Churkin said the council reiterated the importance of the release of all political prisoners.
However, unlike previous statements of concern, the statement was downgraded from a presidential statement to a statement issued to the press.
“The members of the Security Council reiterate the need for the Government of Myanmar [Burma] to create the necessary conditions for a genuine dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all concerned parties and ethnic groups in order to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation with the support of the United Nations,” he said.
Churkin said the Security Council members affirmed their commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Burma and said the future of the country lies in the hands of all of its people.
Talking to reporters outside the Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York, US Alternate Representative for Political Affairs Rosemary A DiCarlo expressed satisfaction with the Security Council’s decision to issue the statement.
During the past two days, the United States, Britain and France had consulted with other members of the Security Council on the Burma issue.
Because of stiff opposition from two veto-wielding members, the council was only able to issue a council statement on this occasion, DiCarlo said. The Burmese military junta in the past has simply ignored such statements from the UN.
Asked if she thought the council statement would have any impact on the Burmese military government, DiCarlo said: “We will continue speaking out to get that impact that we need. We know Rome wasn’t built in a day, and one statement isn’t necessarily going to do the trick. But we will continue to do so.”
Noting that countries who normally do not want to comment on such issues felt the need to comment this time around, the US diplomat said the US-led group obtained some good support from the Asian region.
“As I said, we’ve worked very collaboratively with other members of the Council. And we’ve made a very clear statement and tied it very clearly to the developments surrounding Aung San Suu Kyi,” DiCarlo said.
“The Council needed to speak out on this issue and speak with one voice. We’ve expressed our concern about the political impact of the recent developments related to Aung San Suu Kyi,” she said.
“We’ve reaffirmed our previous statements and called again for the release of all political prisoners, and made very clear that the Burmese regime needs to create the right conditions for a genuine dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and with other concerned parties,” she said.
Talking to reporters, the British ambassador to the UN, Sir John Sawers, said the recent developments in Burma have “put the spotlight on the inhumanity of the regime” and “their failure” to follow the guidance not just from their neighbors and Asean, but also from all members of the UN Security Council that they should pursue a genuine national reconciliation and should create conditions for that.
“It is inconceivable that the trial and imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi can in any way contribute to that,” he said.
“She is the most prominent of the opposition leaders in Myanmar. She heads the party that won the only credible elections in recent memory in Myanmar and the regime needs to comes to terms with that, but has failed to do so,” Sawers said.
The British ambassador said the statement issued by the Security Council is an important expression of its concern on the recent developments in Burma.
===============================================================================
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