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Myanmar government criticized over arrest of democracy advocate

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The government of Myanmar received widespread international criticism after jailing democracy advocate and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi Thursday for violating the terms of her house arrest. Myanmar's military junta arrested Suu Kyi after a US man swam across a lake to the compound in which she was confined and spent at least one night on the property. Suu Kyi's lawyer says Suu Kyi asked the man to leave and considered alerting the guards to his presence, but took pity on him because he was suffering from exhaustion. The Czech Presidency of the EU on behalf of the EU urged Myanmar to release Suu Kyi immediately. US State Department spokesperson Ian Kelly also said Suu Kyi should be released immediately during the daily press briefing. Many international observers noted that Suu Kyi's arrest came only two weeks before her house arrest was supposed to end and suggested that Suu Kyi's arrest was an attempt to keep her out of elections scheduled for next year. Suu Kyi's trial is scheduled to begin Monday. If she is found guilty, Suu Kyi faces up to five years in prison. In March, the UN Human Rights Counsel (UNHRC) passed a resolution denouncing Myanmar for human rights abuses and calling on the military junta to desist from politically motivated arrests and release nearly 2,100 political prisoners. This came a week after the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi violates Myanmar's 1975 State Protection Law and pressed for her immediate release. In February, the military government of Myanmar granted amnesty to 23 political detainees and more than 6,300 other prisoners, said Thailand-based human rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). These grants were in response to increasing international pressure on the military junta to end its persecution of political dissidents. In January, Amnesty International (AI) sent an open letter to the government, urging it to cease targeting its Rohingya Muslim minority. In December, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution denouncing the nation's alleged human rights violations. In June, the UNHRC criticized the government of Myanmar for its continued human rights abuses and refusal to cooperate with humanitarian groups.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on May 14, 2009 (boomark / email).