Myanmar's pro-democracy party said yesterday that the ongoing house arrest of its leader Aung San Suu Kyi was illegal, and demanded the ruling junta accept an appeal against her detention.
The military regime — which calls itself the State Peace and Development Council — extended the Nobel peace prize winner’s house arrest by one year on May 27. Her latest period of detention began in 2003.
“The NLD will submit an appeal under the law as the extension of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention was against the law and unfair,” her National League for Democracy (NLD) party said in a statement.
“If the State Peace and Development Council assumes that the extension of the detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was in accordance with the law, we ask them to accept the appeal and open the case in accordance with the law.”
Aung San Suu Kyi was first detained in 1989, and has spent most of the last 18 years as a prisoner at her sprawling lakeside Yangon home, with only brief spells of freedom.
The junta says they are keeping her locked away under a 1975 law to protect the state from “destructive elements,” but legal experts say that under Myanmar law, a person cannot be held without charge or trial for more than five years.
The NLD did not say on what legal basis they would challenge their leader’s house arrest, but also branded the detention of their vice chairman Tin Oo and two other senior party members illegal.
Aung San Suu Kyi led her NLD to a landslide victory in 1990 elections, but ruling junta never allowed them to take office.
Keeping her under house arrest has effectively silenced the woman known here simply as “The Lady,” while leaving her party rudderless.
Meanwhile, Myanmar has released 15 supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi who were arrested last month as they marched to her house demanding her freedom, the opposition said yesterday.
“Altogether 15 were released last night. I spoke to one of the people released, but I haven’t met them yet,” said Nyan Win, a spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
About 30 activists and NLD members tried to march to the home of Aung San Suu Kyi on May 27 ahead of the extension of her house arrest by the junta, which has kept the Nobel laureate locked up for most of the last 18 years.
But security forces broke up the protest and arrested about 16 people, including a 12-year-old boy who Nyan Win said had already been freed.
The arrests in May came as the NLD marked the anniversary of its victory in 1990 elections, which was ignored by the ruling military junta.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest was extended for one more year. Her current spell in detention began in 2003, and the NLD on Tuesday vowed to appeal the junta order, labeling it illegal and unfair.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese