Lord Alton calls for the release of jailed Burmese opposition leader

BY TRACY-JO SMITH
A CArFtoLic peer has backed Britain's call to end the three month imprisonment of leading Burmese human rights and pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi.
An international outcry over her treatment arose after the United States' State Department made a surprise announcement that it had learnt she was refusing food in protest against being illegally confined since May 30.
The Americans, who have toughened sanctions against the regime, made clear they were worried about her conditions and safety, and would hold the junta responsible if any harm came to her.
Lord Alton of Liverpool said: "I think she has been driven into an impossible situ
ation. I ler treatment has been intolerable and inhumane. She is an icon for democratic values and the Free Nations have a duty to stand by her.
"The US and Congress have taken a very strong line and it is important that the British Government follows them, but it is important that they don't simply issue platitudes.
"I've been to Burma myself and it is one of the most inhumane regimes in the world. Rape is carried out routinely and villages have been razed to the ground. And Aung San Suu Kyi has stood as an isolated figure."
On Monday, Mike O'Brien, the Foreign Office Minister, contacted the Burmese ambassador. He said: "I told the ambassador the Britigh government holds the Burmese authorities responsible for Aung San Suu Kyi's 'health and welfare'. It is now exactly three months since Aung San Suu Kyi was detained under measures that were described by the regime as temporary, after she and her supporters were attacked in a deliberate and premeditated way."
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been held in an unknown place since her entourage was ambushed north west of Mandalay by progovernment supporters armed with clubs, spears and iron rods. Her supporters say 70 people were killed. The Burmese government claims only four died. Scores of members of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), have been in detention since.
This week the US began to enforce stronger sanctions imposed in protest at her imprisonment, including the closure of its market to Siamese imports and freezing the junta's US assets.
The Burmese government responded dismissively to the State Department's remarks, saying the claim that Aung San Suu Kyi was on hunger strike was "groundless". Some of her supporters were also unaware that she was refusing food. The International Committee of the Red Cross in Rangoon, the capital, said they could not confirm the hunger strike since they have not met Sim Kyi since 28 July.
The US announcement also included an appeal to Burma's military rulers — who barred the NDL from taking power after it won the 1990 elections — to hold talks with the political parties.