Martin condemns conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi
Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin has condemned the conviction of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner was told today that she will have to serve another 18 months of house arrest for breaching the terms of her existing house arrest.
The conviction relates to an incident in which an American man swam across a lake to warn Ms Suu Kyi of an assassination attempt he had seen in a vision.
She subsequently allowed him to stay in her home for two days.
Minister Martin said today that her conviction would serve only to exclude her from elections due to take place in Burma next year.
He has called for her immediate release.
The Irish branch of Amnesty International, meanwhile, has described the guilty verdict as shameful and says she should never have been tried in the first place.
“Her arrest and trial and now this guilty verdict are nothing more than legal and political theatre,” added Amnesty International’s secretary general Irene Khan.
Amnesty International Ireland executive director Colm O’Gorman said: “Last month U2 named Aung San Suu Kyi as an Amnesty International ambassador of conscience at their concert in Dublin.
“We cannot allow this courageous woman to be forgotten about or to slip from the headlines. People here in Ireland and around the world need to put pressure on their governments to urge the international community to confront the Myanmarese authorities.”
