Burma: Campaign to Free Political Prisoners

Beginning on February 14, 2009, members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) started collecting signatures for a public awareness campaign to free Aung San Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi is a political prisoner who has been detained in prison or under house arrest for 13 of the past 18 years. She won the 1990 election of Prime Minister, but was denied the position because the military power nullified the election.

The campaign, which is mainly being implemented by the youthful members of the NLD, faces problems with gaining the support of the common Burmese people. Because the current Burmese junta strictly enforce laws that prohibit free speech, many people may hesitate to give their support to this campaign. One of the barriers to this goal is the public's perception of the repercussions if they show support.

"The people are interested in this campaign, But, some people did not dare to give their signatures out of fear and they were also unaware that they could participate in such campaigns at their own free will as their right," said Daw Khin Nyunt Mu, a member of the NLD organizing committee (quote from Mizzima - a Burmese media source).

On Friday, February 20, Burma's military rulers announced that they would begin the release over 6000 prisoners. They did not specify, however, if this number would include the estimated 2000 prisoners who were detained for political reasons. Although this may be a step in the right direction, according to the Mizzima, no prisoners had been released as of Saturday.

- Sarah Popovich (Burma)