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| World leaders call for immediate release of Suu Kyi |
| Lalit K Jha/ PTI / Washington May 18, 2009, 13:23 IST |
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A group of 72 former presidents and prime ministers who make up the Club of Madrid called for the immediate release of Burmese icon of democracy Aung San Suu Kyi, as the military junta appeared to be going ahead with its plan to charge the nobel laureate.
Condemning the continued detention of Suu Kyi, the Club of Madrid urged UN Secretary General to look into the possibility of traveling to Myanmar (Burma) to talk with the junta leaders seeking her release.
In another statement, signed by as many as 44 world celebrities, urged all the countries and the United Nations to speak in one voice and demanded the Burmese military regime to free Aung San Suu Kyi. "We urge you to make use of every possible means, including considering to travel to Burma on behalf of the United Nations, to press for her immediate release," said the Club of Madrid in a letter to the US Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon.
The letter has been signed by Ricardo Lagos, President of the Club of Madrid and former President of Chile, Mary Robinson, Vice-President of the Club of Madrid and former President of Ireland and Kjell Magne Bondevik, Member of the Board of Directors of the Club of Madrid and former Prime Minister of Norway. The former Indian Prime Minister, I K Gujral, is also a member of the Club.
Reminding the Secretary General of the October 2007 presidential statement of the UN Security Council calling on the Burmese military junta to release all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, the letter said, "In defiance of the United Nations Security Council, the Burmese junta has not only almost doubled the number of political prisoners, but now also imprisoned and charged her with breaching the terms of her house arrest."
Meanwhile, the 44 luminaries issued another statement calling for "one voice" form the world. "We must not stand by as she is silenced once again. Now is the time for the United Nations and the entire international community to speak clearly, and with one voice, Free Aung San Suu Kyi," they said.
"Nineteen years ago, the Burmese people chose Aung San Suu Kyi to be their next leader. And for most of those 19 years she has been kept under house arrest by the military junta that now runs the country. She is the world's only incarcerated Nobel Peace Prize Laureate," they said in a statement.
"Last week Suu Kyi was taken to Burma's Insein prison to face criminal charges as part of a concerted plan to deny her freedom," they said urging all the countries of the world to help her get free.
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