City gives 'freedom' to Suu Kyi

Published on Wednesday 4 March 2009 21:18

A BURMESE pro-democracy campaigner was given the Freedom of the City of Glasgow in her absence yesterday.

Dr Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, has spent more than half of the past two decades in detention imposed by the military regime.

Her representative, Dr Thuang Htun, accepted the award at the city chambers. He said: "The fact that Aung San Suu Kyi should be given the Freedom of the City of Glasgow – a city far from her home – at a time she is denied even basic freedoms in her own country is a sharp reminder of the mind-numbing reality of today's Burma."

Dr Suu Kyi is the only Nobel Peace Prize winner currently incarcerated.

Lord Provost Bob Winter, who presented Dr Htun with the award, said: "It is with profound respect and admiration for Dr Aung San Suu Kyi's unflinching bravery that the council has conferred upon her the Freedom of the City of Glasgow. This is tempered with frustration that she cannot be here in person."

The Freedom of the City Award was proposed by Amnesty International and Glasgow Women's Library.

Dr Suu Kyi is the daughter of Aung San, leader of Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League. He was assassinated in 1947.

She founded the National League for Democracy (NLD) in 1988 and was put under house arrest with the offer of freedom if she left Burma.

In 1990 the NLD won the general election decisively and once again Dr Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest.

The election result was nullified by a military junta.