By Tim Saunders on
George Clooney joined Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and many others on Friday in calling for the immediate release from prison of Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Along with Bono, Madonna, Steven Spielberg, Nobel Laureates professor Elie Wiesel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright and US Senator John McCain, the group released a statement protesting about the fact that Aung San Suu Kyi – who has been under house arrest for 19 years – has now been moved to a prison facility.
The only Nobel Peace Prize recipient currently imprisoned, and leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma, Suu Kyi is a noted prisoner of conscience and advocate of nonviolent resistance.
“Yesterday Suu Kyi was taken to Burma’s Insein prison to face criminal charges as part of a concerted plan to deny her freedom,” said the statement. “We must not stand by as she is silenced once again. Now is the time for the United Nations and the entire international community to speak clearly, and with one voice: Free Aung San Suu Kyi.”
Aung San Suu Kyi is a remarkable woman – immortalized in the U2 song “Walk On” and the only Nobel Peace Prize winner kept imprisoned anywhere in the world – her crime was her desire to see her people free.
Other stars to sign their name to the statement included Drew Barrymore, Sandra Bullock, Daniel Craig, Matthew Broderick, Scarlett Johansson, Nicole Kidman, Ashton Kutcher, Meg Ryan and many more.
To read more about Aung San Suu Kyi’s plight, click here or visit the Not On Our Watch website.
Copyright © 2009 Look to the Stars
