Action Alert
Oppose the Unjust Detention of Aung San Suu Kyi
"During the time I was in a military station, I was raped by [three officers]…. They asked me many question, beat and tortured me. Then they raped me 2-3 times EVERY night…." - Excerpt from a victim of the Burmese military government (Provided by Refugee International)
It is time for the more than 40 years of suffering and atrocities in Burma to stop. According to the Council on Foreign Affairs, the military dictatorship that currently tyrannizes the Burmese people (the State Peace and Development Council or SPDC) is "one of the most tightly controlled dictatorships in the world, lacking any freedom of speech, assembly, or the press; denying any due process of law; and perpetuating human rights abuses…."
The SPDC silenced the most recent developments in the struggle for democracy when they violently incarcerated Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi on May 30, 2003. Suu Kyi is the head of the SPDC's main opposition group, the National League for Democracy (NLD). The NLD won 82% of the vote in an open election held in Burma in 1990, but the SPDC never relinquished control to the democratically elected party. Upon arrest, the SPDC killed at least four of Suu Kyi's bodyguards, arrested more than 100 activists, and closed schools in an attempt to impart a sense of terror in the Burmese people.
Even though Suu Kyi said in an interview by "The Humanist," "Fear is a Habit. I'm not afraid," millions of Burmese live in terror of their junta government. As Humanists, we can assist the people of Burma by writing to our Representatives in the House and ask them to pass the Burma Freedom Act. This act, which the Senate already passed, will stop all imports from Burma into the United States, freeze SPDC assets in the U.S., and deny visas to any SPDC affiliated person. Please contact your House representatives and tell them that they need to pass HR2330 (the Burma Freedom Act) now.
Contact information for your representative is available at http://www.house.gov/. Click on the links below for more information on the Burma issue and to obtain a sample letter for your congressperson that you can personalize.
Burma Action Alert
Burma: A Land of Terror
Burma Action Sample letter
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