INVITATION

Free Aung San Suu Kyi! Free all Political Prisoner in Burma Now!

Dear friends,

The Hong Kong Coalition for a Free Burma (HKCFB) invites you to take part in our public petition signing and candle lighting ceremony to call for freedom and democracy in Burma and for the immediate release of all political prisoners. 

As you all are aware, Burma’s pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged by the military regime under section 22 of the ‘State Protection Act’ and is currently held inside notorious Insein Prison awaiting trial. 

She was accused of allowing an American man to stay overnight in her home, an apparent violation of her long-term house arrest, her lawyer said.

According to Burma Partnership (BP), the new charge brought against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is completely erroneous and only meant to extend her already unlawful detention. The trial of the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Laureate stands as a firm marker of the regime’s defiance against the world and its own people.

BP said efforts to eradicate all opposition before the elections in 2010 Burma’s junta is increasing its brutality, particularly against political leaders and pro-democracy activists who are already in prison. Increased arrests as well as longer sentences, removal to remote prisons, denial of healthcare, and harsh treatment of political prisoners indicate the regime’s intent to maintain its iron grip on power, using mental and physical torture of political prisoners as examples to the rest of the population.

On Friday, the HKCFB will hold a public event in Tsimshatsui to solicit signatures from the general public starting from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. This effort is part of the “Free Burma’s Political Prisoners Now” campaign which launched an online petition urging UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to step up measures for the release of all political prisoners.  The campaign aims to collect 888,888 signatures until 24 May 2009, the legal date that Nobel Peace Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should be released from house arrest.

The target symbolises 8.8.88, the day the junta massacred some 3,000 people who courageously protested in Burma’s largest democracy uprising.

After the signature campaign, a short program and a candle lighting ceremony will follow (7:00 – 7:30 PM). Representatives from the HKCFB, local and international human rights organisations and some local Churches will give short messages.

We hope that you can join us in this gathering. You can also visit www.fbppn.net and sign the online petition.

For more details, please feel free to contact Rey Asis (95889491) or Debby Chan (67568964).