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Aung San Suu Kyi freed
REUTERS and AFP, YANGON, Myanmar
Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi greets
thousands of supporters after her release yesterday in Yangon, Myanmar.
Photo: EPA
Myanmar¡¦s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi walked free yesterday after seven
years as a prisoner in her own home, calling on a sea of jubilant supporters to
unite in the face of repression.
Waving and smiling, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate appeared outside the
crumbling lakeside mansion where she had been locked up by the military rulers,
to huge cheers and clapping from the waiting crowds.
¡§There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk. People must work in unison.
Only then can we achieve our goal,¡¨ she told thousands of waiting people,
suggesting she has no intention of giving up her long fight for democracy in
what is one of the world¡¦s oldest dictatorships.
Many people hugged each other with joy at the sight of the 65-year-old
dissident, known in Myanmar simply as ¡§The Lady.¡¨ She wore a pale purple top and
appeared in good health after her latest stretch of detention.
¡§I¡¦m so glad to see her in person, but she looks older than before. The last
time I saw her was in 2002,¡¨ supporter Htein Win said.
Aung San Suu Kyi asked the crowd to come to her party¡¦s headquarters at noon
today to hear her speak after she struggled to make herself heard over the roar
of cheers, then went back inside her home as the crowds lingered outside.
World leaders were quick to welcome her release, with US President Barack Obama
hailing her as ¡§a hero of mine¡¨ and said it was time for the Myanmar junta to
free all political prisoners.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said her release was ¡§long overdue,¡¨ while
French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned any restrictions on her freedom would
¡§constitute a new unacceptable denial of her rights.¡¨
Aung San Suu Kyi has not seen her two sons for about a decade and has never met
her grandchildren.
Her youngest son Kim Aris, 33, arrived in Bangkok ahead of her release, but it
was unclear whether he would be allowed to visit his mother.
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