Myanmar’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi walked free yesterday after seven years as a prisoner in her own home, calling on a sea of jubilant supporters to unite in the face of repression.
Waving and smiling, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate appeared outside the crumbling lakeside mansion where she had been locked up by the military rulers, to huge cheers and clapping from the waiting crowds.
“There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk. People must work in unison. Only then can we achieve our goal,” she told thousands of waiting people, suggesting she has no intention of giving up her long fight for democracy in what is one of the world’s oldest dictatorships.
Photo: EPA
Many people hugged each other with joy at the sight of the 65-year-old dissident, known in Myanmar simply as “The Lady.” She wore a pale purple top and appeared in good health after her latest stretch of detention.
“I’m so glad to see her in person, but she looks older than before. The last time I saw her was in 2002,” supporter Htein Win said.
Aung San Suu Kyi asked the crowd to come to her party’s headquarters at noon today to hear her speak after she struggled to make herself heard over the roar of cheers, then went back inside her home as the crowds lingered outside.
World leaders were quick to welcome her release, with US President Barack Obama hailing her as “a hero of mine” and said it was time for the Myanmar junta to free all political prisoners.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said her release was “long overdue,” while French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned any restrictions on her freedom would “constitute a new unacceptable denial of her rights.”
Aung San Suu Kyi has not seen her two sons for about a decade and has never met her grandchildren.
Her youngest son Kim Aris, 33, arrived in Bangkok ahead of her release, but it was unclear whether he would be allowed to visit his mother.
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