Why is aung san suu kyi under house arrest

The monks march off without incident, leading ever larger marches in Rangoon until the government violently cracks down on their protests on September May , Following the devastation of Cyclone Nargis, the military government holds a constitutional referendum, which it announces is passed by a 92 percent approval from a 98 percent voter turnout. One clause in the new constitution bars people serving prison terms from voting in elections, and the provisions for presidential candidates provide that the president "shall he himself [sic], one of the parents, the spouse, one of the legitimate children or their spouses not owe allegiance to a foreign power, not be subject of a foreign power or citizen of a foreign country.

They shall not be persons entitled to enjoy the rights and privileges of a subject of a foreign government or citizen of a foreign country. May 28, Aung San Suu Kyi's detention order under the State Protection Act, "the restriction order against her fundamental rights," is extended until May 27, Suu Kyi under house arrest not solely violates international law but also national domestic laws of Myanmar, since the situation does not meet the terms of the State Protection Law, and since this Law only allows for annually renewable house arrest orders with the maximum time limit of five years in total.

This five year period ended at the end of May He asks to meet her, but is told by her household staff she does not wish to meet him, and he is asked to leave. Suu Kyi informs the authorities the following day that an intruder came to the house. May 6, Burmese police arrest American John Yettaw at approximately a.

He allegedly swam across the lake to visit Suu Kyi and despite being told to leave immediately, he begged to stay because of exhaustion and spent the night at her home. May 14, At approximately 8 a. They, along with John Yettaw, are slated to be tried for violating the terms of her house arrest at Rangoon North District Court on May Suu Kyi's trial lasts from May 18 to July 31, with frequent delays.

The court permitted 14 witnesses for the prosecution, but only two for the defense, despite several appeals by Suu Kyi's lawyers to present additional witnesses. The trial was closed to the public, with foreign diplomats and the media only permitted to observe the trial on a few occasions. The prosecution alleged that Suu Kyi was jointly responsible with the authorities, who place guards around her home, for the breach of security on her residence, and, therefore, the intrusion violated the terms of her house arrest.

August 10, The head of the military junta, President Senior General Than Shwe, issues a directive to the Minister of Home Affairs that whatever the verdict of the court, Suu Kyi's sentence will be halved and is to be served back under house arrest.

August 11, The court convicts Aung San Suu Kyi and sentences her to three years hard labor "rigorous imprisonment". Her two assistants are sentenced under the same charges, and John Yettaw is sentenced to three years under intrusion charges, and three years for immigration violations.

Four years later she went to Oxford University in the UK, where she studied philosophy, politics and economics. There she met her future husband, academic Michael Aris. After stints of living and working in Japan and Bhutan, she settled in the UK to raise their two children, Alexander and Kim, but Myanmar was never far from her thoughts.

When she arrived back in Yangon in - to look after her critically ill mother - Myanmar was in the midst of major political upheaval. Thousands of students, office workers and monks took to the streets demanding democratic reform. She went on to lead the revolt against the then-dictator, General Ne Win.

Inspired by the non-violent campaigns of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King and India's Mahatma Gandhi, she organised rallies and travelled around the country, calling for peaceful democratic reform and free elections. But the demonstrations were brutally suppressed by the army, which seized power in a coup on 18 September Ms Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest the following year. The military government called national elections in May , which Ms Suu Kyi's NLD convincingly won - but the junta refused to hand over control.

Ms Suu Kyi remained under house arrest in Yangon for six years, until she was released in July She was again put under house arrest in September , when she tried to travel to the city of Mandalay in defiance of travel restrictions. She was released unconditionally in May , but just over a year later was imprisoned after a government-backed mob set upon her entourage in the north of the country.

She escaped because of the swift action taken by her driver, but many of her supporters were savagely beaten and a number died. She was later allowed to return home - but again under effective house arrest.

At times she was able to meet other NLD officials and selected diplomats, but during the early years she was often in solitary confinement. She was not allowed to see her two sons or her husband, who died of cancer in March The military authorities had offered to allow her to travel to the UK to see him when he was gravely ill, but she felt compelled to refuse for fear she would not be allowed back into the country.

Ms Suu Kyi was side-lined from Myanmar's first elections in two decades on 7 November but released from house arrest six days later. Her son Kim was allowed to visit her for the first time in a decade. As the new government embarked on a process of reform, Ms Suu Kyi and her party re-joined the political process. They won 43 of the 45 seats contested in April by-elections, in an emphatic statement of support. In , before allowing elections, the military regime drafted a new constitution that allowed it to retain control of several key institutions and guaranteed it 25 percent of the seats in parliament.

It also added a clause banning anyone with a foreign husband or child from serving as president, which many saw as being directly aimed at Aung San Suu Kyi. Two years later, Ko Ni was shot dead. But while she was a global superstar as an activist, many of her biggest supporters were disappointed once she was in power. In , hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim Rohingya fled into Bangladesh as the military unleashed a brutal crackdown in the western state of Rakhine.

Activist and protest leader Thinzar Shunlei Yi is one of many young human rights defenders who grew up idolising Aung San Suu Kyi, only to be let down by her time in power. But as violence against the Rohingya grew, Thinzar Shunlei Yi became one of the only people to speak out against it, putting her at odds with her hero and her throngs of supporters.

During her time in power, journalists and Facebook users faced criminal charges for criticising NLD politicians. With NLD leadership scattered or in prison after the coup, more progressive activists like Thinzar Shunlei Yi found themselves spearheading the initial resistance movement. They called for increasingly radical change, like abolishing the military-drafted constitution of , the complete removal of the military from politics, the reform of the discriminatory Citizenship Law that helped render the Rohingya stateless, and armed revolution rather than non-violent resistance.

Support Scroll. On June 19, the erstwhile leader of Myanmar, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will celebrate her 76th birthday in her home where she has been put under house arrest since the February 1 military coup.

Her birthday is an occasion for us to reflect how a genocide was committed in a country ruled by a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. Why did Aung San Suu Kyi, once a celebrated as an icon of democracy, not only remain silent when the Roginyas in Rakhine state were being massacred but even defend the Tatamadaw the official name of the Burmese Army at the International Court of Justice in November ?

In Myanmar, however, her defence of the Tatmadaw at the International Court of Justice was viewed by the people as a patriotic act comparable to an act of self sacrifice of a mother defending her children.

Her popularity soared and she won the elections. The people of Myanmar looked forward to the final transition of their country from military dictatorship to a liberal democracy. Instead, the Tatmadaw re-arrested Aung San Suu Kyi in February even though she was the State Counselor and had led her party, the National League for Democracy, to a thumping victory in the elections. She was once again a political prisoner but this time the international community was much less enthusiastic about taking up her cause.

Aung Saan Suu Kyi burst into the international scene during the days of her first house arrest from to Within the country she was venerated almost like a female bodhisattva, a benevolent nat. While she was confined to her home, spending her days meditating, reading and playing the piano, the world showered her with awards.

Suu Kyi was released briefly in and again arrested in From to she was under house arrest and countries around the world continued to shower honours, awards and even citizenship on her. She has also been honoured with the International Simon Bolivar Prize from the government of Venezuela and in she was made an honorary citizen of Canada.