Senators alarmed by treatment of Nobel recipient

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee and State Department have sprung to the defense of a Burmese democracy icon jailed after receiving an American visitor while under house arrest.

Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and ranking member Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) released a joint statement Friday protesting the latest imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient who has been prevented by the military junta from assuming the role of prime minister since winning 1990 elections in a landslide.

{mosads}“The Obama administration and Congress are reviewing America’s policy toward Burma,” Kerry and Lugar wrote. “At this critical time, some in the junta are trying to leverage the recent alleged unauthorized entry into Aung San Suu Kyi’s compound to extend her detention. This action sends precisely the wrong message to the citizens of Burma, the people of Southeast Asia, and all those in the global community who seek for the Burmese people the opportunity to live in a country where universal human rights are respected, not trampled.

“Now is the time for reform-minded leaders within the military junta to step forward and be heard,” the senators wrote. “Releasing Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners would signal the start of a constructive dialogue with the United States.”

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that the U.S. would try to get help in pressuring Burma from regional neighbors.

“We will also raise this with our other — other nations like China and see if we can’t, on a humanitarian basis, seek relief for Aung San Suu Kyi from this latest effort to intimidate and perhaps even incarcerate her,” Clinton said.

{mosads}John Yettaw, a 53-year-old Vietnam veteran, reportedly swam to Suu Kyi’s lakeside home last week, and after being persuaded to leave by the Burmese democracy leader was spotted swimming away by police and arrested.

Suu Kyi’s latest term of house arrest had begun in 2003. Observers speculate that the new charges of breaking the terms of her house arrest — which include no phone calls, letters or visitors — are an excuse to keep her incarcerated for the 2010 elections.

“The embassy has stressed to Burmese authorities the U.S. government’s strong interest in Mr. Yettaw’s case and our concerns for his health, welfare and fair treatment,” the State Department said Wednesday at a press briefing. “The embassy also has requested ongoing consular access to Mr. Yettaw.”

Burma holds more than 2,100 political prisoners, according to the State Department. The notoriously repressive junta is so insular that it turned down badly needed aid from the U.S. and other outsiders after the most devastating natural disaster in the country’s history, Cyclone Nargis, a year ago.

The State Department wrote Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) late last month to reassure lawmakers that “sanctions that the United States and other countries maintain against the regime are an important part of our efforts to support change in Burma,” according to the letter viewed by Agence France-Presse.

“While we are currently reviewing our Burma policy, we can assure you that we remain committed to delivering a firm message on the need for real reform, including the initiation of a credible and inclusive dialogue with the democratic opposition and the release of political prisoners.”

President Obama’s Inauguration address was banned in Burma, called Myanmar by the military regime.