Aung San Suu Kyi *IS* Free! (3 of 3

[BAS1+aDARMOK%CooperWhite@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Aung San Suu Kyi *IS* Free! (3 of 3)

And from PA News:

  By Charles Miller, Diplomatic Correspondent, PA News
   Britain said tonight it was delighted at the release from house arrest of Burmese dissident
leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- just days before she would have completed six years in
detention.
   The restriction order on Nobel Prize winner Mrs Suu Kyi, who is married to British academic
Dr Michael Aris, was unconditionally lifted, according to official sources.
   Foreign Office minister Jeremy Hanley said: "We are delighted to hear that Aung San Suu
Kyi has today been released from house arrest.   "We hope that no conditions have been
attached to her release".
   She was expected to hold a press conference tomorrow, Mr Hanley added.
   Colonel Kyaw Win, Burma's deputy intelligence chief, went to Mrs Suu Kyi's lakeside
residence to inform her of the government's decision. "At her request, guards are still kept at
her house but she is an ordinary citizen," said a Burmese official, who asked not to be
named.
   The decision to lift the restriction order will allow the mother-of-two to go anywhere and meet
anyone just like an ordinary citizen, as long as she does not violate any laws, officials said.
   Western governments including Britain have continually demanded the release of Mrs Suu
Kyi, 50, who was the leader of the National League For Democracy which won a landslide
victory in Burma's 1990 general elections -- a result the military junta refused to accept.
   She decided to challenge the military after soldiers killed hundreds of people as they
quelled a mass uprising against autocratic rule.
   The junta placed her under house arrest in July 1989, allegedly for inciting unrest.
   No outsiders, apart from her immediate family, were allowed to visit.
   The Burmese government has adopted a less autocratic style in recent years and made
strenuous efforts to break its international isolation.
   However, Mrs Suu Kyi's release came as a major surprise to foreign analysts worldwide.
   The military junta has successfully suppressed virtually all open dissent in recent years.
Yet Mrs Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace prize, has remained the powerful symbol of
the pro-democracy movement.
   She has steadfastly maintained that she will never give up the struggle for democracy in
Burma, where she is always referred to as "the lady".
   Her husband Dr Aris is an expert in Tibetan studies at Oxford University. The couple have
two sons -- Alexander, 22, and Kim, 17.
   A spokesman for St Antony's College, Oxford, where Dr Aris is a Fellow, said attempts were
being made to contact him.
   Amnesty International said it was "delighted" to hear reports that restrictions had been lifted
after six years of worldwide campaigning.
   "We hope that no conditions are placed on her freedom and that she is allowed to
participate fully in her country's political process," said the organisation.
   It hoped the release marked the start of a new policy to improve Burma's human rights
record.
   Amnesty said it was renewing its call for the 40 other prisoners of conscience still
imprisoned to be released.   "The organisation is also concerned about 20 members of
parliament-elect who, instead of taking office after the 1990 elections, were thrown into jail," it
added.
 
   At his Oxford home this afternoon, Dr Aris was still waiting for official confirmation of his wife's
release.
   He has always refused to discuss her plight for fear of jeopardising her chances of release.
   Dr Aris, 49, briefly emerged from his home in Park Town, Oxford, to say: "I am still waiting for
confirmation.
   "I am trying to get that confirmation from various sources. Whether or not I receive
confirmation I know that it is my wife's wish that I do not give any comments in public."
 
   Later, Dr Aris said he was "very hopeful" about his wife's release.
   Speaking frm outside his home he said: "Like all of us, we are simply waiting to hear it from
her own lips. But I am very hopeful."