Former political prisoners under the banner of SELDA adds their voice to the worldwide call to release Burmese pro democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and scored the military junta for the violent repression that it is foisting on the people of Burma.
Suu Kyi is among the thousands of political prisoners in Burma and despite the military junta’s announcement to suspend the sentence of the prisoners, only a few hundreds have been freed. In the Philippines, the Arroyo government made a commitment to release 32 political prisoners in 2004 under the Oslo agreement but had so far released only 17.
SELDA said “political prisoners are men and women who, as a consequence of their political work and/or organizational affiliations were charged with criminal charges, arrested, captured or in many cases abducted, tried in criminal courts and sent to prison.”
While trying them as criminals, governments maintained files on them referencing their political activities, designed to make sure they remain in prison.
All over the world, there are thousands of political prisoners and prisoners of war, including over a hundred fifty reported in the self-proclaimed bastion of democracy – the United States of America.
Meanwhile SELDA called Arroyo a hypocrite for denouncing rights violations in Burma and demanding for the release of Suu Kyi while in her own backyard human rights violations continue, including the deprivation of liberty of many persons perceived as ‘enemies’ by the state.
According to SELDA, there some 200 people have been imprisoned for their political beliefs under the Arroyo regime, many of them in conditions the same as if not worse than Suu Kyi.
SELDA expressed solidarity with the people of Burma in their quest for freedom and democracy, “As the people of the Philippines deserve to be free from tyranny, so do the people of Burma deserve to be free from the clutches of military rule.” (Reference: Donato Continente)
Suu Kyi is among the thousands of political prisoners in Burma and despite the military junta’s announcement to suspend the sentence of the prisoners, only a few hundreds have been freed. In the Philippines, the Arroyo government made a commitment to release 32 political prisoners in 2004 under the Oslo agreement but had so far released only 17.
SELDA said “political prisoners are men and women who, as a consequence of their political work and/or organizational affiliations were charged with criminal charges, arrested, captured or in many cases abducted, tried in criminal courts and sent to prison.”
While trying them as criminals, governments maintained files on them referencing their political activities, designed to make sure they remain in prison.
All over the world, there are thousands of political prisoners and prisoners of war, including over a hundred fifty reported in the self-proclaimed bastion of democracy – the United States of America.
Meanwhile SELDA called Arroyo a hypocrite for denouncing rights violations in Burma and demanding for the release of Suu Kyi while in her own backyard human rights violations continue, including the deprivation of liberty of many persons perceived as ‘enemies’ by the state.
According to SELDA, there some 200 people have been imprisoned for their political beliefs under the Arroyo regime, many of them in conditions the same as if not worse than Suu Kyi.
SELDA expressed solidarity with the people of Burma in their quest for freedom and democracy, “As the people of the Philippines deserve to be free from tyranny, so do the people of Burma deserve to be free from the clutches of military rule.” (Reference: Donato Continente)
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