After fifteen years of house arrest, Burma has released Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, an outspoken proponent against the military dictatorship that has subjugated her country. Appearing outside her home in Rangoon, Ms Suu Kyi told
November 13, 2010

After fifteen years of house arrest, Burma has released Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, an outspoken proponent against the military dictatorship that has subjugated her country.

Appearing outside her home in Rangoon, Ms Suu Kyi told thousands of jubilant supporters they had to "work in unison" to achieve their goals.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years. It is not yet clear if any conditions have been placed on her release.

US President Barack Obama welcomed her release as "long overdue".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Ms Suu Kyi was an "inspiration", and called on Burma to free all its remaining political prisoners.

The decision to free 65-year-old Ms Suu Kyi comes six days after the political party supported by the military government won the country's first election in 20 years. The ballot was widely condemned as a sham.

Suu Kyi has previously said that she would not negotiate for any release that came with conditions, such as preventing her from running for office. However, it is doubtful that the ruling generals would have granted freedom to Suu Kyi unless they felt confident that she posed little to no threat to their position. With the questionable results from the last election, it should be interesting to see how the Burmese now react to the symbol of democratic resistance in their country walking among them.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon