Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Dozens of Rakhaing supporters of Burmese democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi staged demonstration in the capital, Dhaka on Monday morning demanding her immediate release.
Members of the Rakhaing Women’s Union (RWU) gathered in front of city’s National Eidgah shouted, ‘Free Aung San Suu Kyi,’ who was to go on trial on Monday at Rangoon Insein Prison for breaking the terms of her house detention.
“We are very concerned over the health condition of Suu Kyi… she was seriously ill last week but denied medical treatment by the Junta regime,” RWU Chairperson Saw Mra Raza Linn told reporters after a hour-long program.
The RWU chairperson also said that Suu Kyi faces up to five years in jail and could be barred from standing in elections promised by the ruling junta in 2010 if convicted on the charges.
Linn also demanded release of other political prisoners, saying that political prisoners in Burma, formally known as Myanmar, are “routinely subjected to torture and often denied medical treatment.”
She urged the international community to create pressure on the military junta of Burma for holding free and fair election in the country.
The junta, headed by Senior General Than Shwe has kept Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for a total of 13 years since 1990, when it refused to recognize her party’s landslide victory in Burma’s last elections.
Meanwhile, The Bangladesh Human Rights Commission has condemned sending of Suu Kyi from house arrest to prison by the military junta in Burma on the pretext of holding trial as she met with a foreign national.
On the other hand, Buddhist monks under the banner of ‘International Burma Bhikkhu Sangathan’ staged a demonstration in the country’s Southeastern Cox’s Bazar district town on Monday demanding release of Aung San Suu Kyi.
They carried different banners and festoons written in English and Burmese languages, according to reports.
BBN/SS/SI/AD-19May09-12:33 pm (BST)
