Rights Groups Condemn Continuing Detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

The Burmese government's crackdown o­n supporters of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi had become increasingly violent, a leading human rights group said o­n Friday.

The Burmese military government recently detained a total of 72 people involved in a prayer campaign for the release of Suu Kyi and held them without trial, the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) said in a statement.

"The Burmese regime has been persistently threatening, arresting and detaining pro-democracy and human rights activists," the statement said. Beatings and illegal arrests had increased, it added.

Last month, supporters of Suu Kyi and youth members of her National League for Democracy visited Buddhist pagodas in Rangoon to pray for her release, but were blocked by supporters of the junta—members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, a junta-backed pseudo-social organization, and the Phythu Swan Arr Shin, a paramilitary group.

 Suu Kyi has been held under house arrest since May 30, 2003, after her motorcade was attacked by a junta-backed mob during a political tour of northern Burma. She has been detained for a total of 11 of the last 17 years without charge or trial. Last week, the military government extended her house arrest for a further year.

Meanwhile, a UN panel has denounced Suu Kyi's continuing detention as a violation of international law and called for her immediate release.

The UN Working Group o­n Arbitrary Detention—an independent UN tribunal of experts from Algeria, Iran, Hungary, Paraguay, and Spain—informed Jared Genser, president of the US rights group Freedom Now, that "the deprivation of liberty of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi is arbitrary, being contravention of Articles 9, 10 and 19 of the Universal Declaration o­n Human Rights."

In the statement by Freedom Now, Jared Genser said: "Her detention is a symbol of the o­ngoing oppression of the Burmese people. The real question is how long will Burma's bold-faced defiance of the United Nations, Asean, EU and so many others be tolerated?"