Burma’s pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is refusing to accept freedom from house arrest until other detainees are released, according to Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, a UN human rights envoy.
Pinheiro condemned Burma’s military junta for its continued detention of 1 300 political prisoners, some of whom are over 75 and said of Suu Kyi: ”She wants to be the last person to have access to freedom of movement.”
Speaking at the end of a week-long assessment of human rights in the dictatorship, the envoy added: ”She will not accept any privilege or freedom of movement before all the people detained since May 30, including her eight colleagues, [are] released.”
Suu Kyi was detained on the above date after her National League for Democracy convoy was ambushed by regime-sponsored thugs.
Witnesses claim dozens of people were killed at the scene and in an ensuing crackdown. The junta says four people died in the ”clash.”
Pinheiro met 19 political prisoners at the notorious Insein prison in the Burmese capital, Rangoon, during his visit. – Guardian Unlimited Â