Fourteen Refugees Arrested During Aung San Suu Kyi Birthday Celebrations

19 June, 2009
VOCR (Source: Malaysian Insider)

Fourteen Myanmar refugees are still in detention after being picked up at a local celebration of Burma's prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday. Human rights group Suaram said five of the 14 are not registered as refugees with the UNHCR. Police arrested 16 at the Taman Jaya park on Friday for illegal assembly but later freed two. 

Suu Kyi turned 64 on Friday in the notorious Insen jail in capital Yangon while facing a trial for breaking conditions of her house arrest when an American swam through a moat to her house. 

She has spent 13 of the past 20 years under house arrest and could be jailed for up to five years for the latest offence.Human rights activists celebrated her birthday around the world to draw attention to the Nobel laureate's plight, including in Malaysia.

But police flooded Taman Jaya to stop a gathering organised by the Pakatan Rakyat, which rules Selangor. Only the refugees were held, with 10 currently detained at Kelana Jaya Police Station while the remaining 4 are detained at Damansara Police Station. "We strongly urge the police to release all the individuals arrested immediately and unconditionally," said Suaram
coordinator Temme Lee, noting they have yet been given access to legal aid. 

Suaram also demand that the Malaysia government recognise the refugee’s status and provide protection to them, while guaranteeing the peoples’ rights to assembly and to stop the assault on freedom of expression.a