News

UNI Global Union today condemned the new house arrest sentence handed down against Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democracy leader.



She was sentenced Tuesday to three years of hard labor for violating the terms of her house arrest when an intruder entered here house claiming he would save her from assassins, but her sentence was commuted to a new term of house arrest of up to 18 months.



“This is clearly an attempt to stifle the voice of democracy and freedom in Burma,” said UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings. “We are calling for Aung San Suu Kyi’s immediate and unconditional release and the release of all other union activists and political prisoners in Burma.”



Trade union activists are among the many victims of unfair arrest, detention and torture in Burma.



In April, five members of the Federation Trade Unions Burma (FTUB) were arrested in their homes in Rangoon after returning from border areas where they had participated as delegates in the FTUB’s First National Congress. They were freed after six days after the intervention of the global labour movement.