Burmese freedom fighter and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been under government-sponsored house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years. As Suu Kyi awaits an upcoming trial on May 18th on charges meant to extend her imprisonment, Not On Our Watch has organized an international statement calling for her release. Luminaries from across the cultural, political, and social spheres, including Not On Our Watch founders George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon, as well as Bono, Madonna, Steven Spielberg, Nobel Laureates Professor Elie Wiesel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and Senator John McCain, among others, have united to demand that the Burmese military regime free Aung San Suu Kyi now.
The statement and full list of signatories follow below.
FREE AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Nineteen years ago, the Burmese people chose Aung San Suu Kyi to be their next leader. And for most of those 19 years she has been kept under house arrest by the military junta that now runs the country. She is the world’s only incarcerated Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
Yesterday Suu Kyi was taken to Burma’s Insein prison to face criminal charges as part of a concerted plan to deny her freedom.
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.
In support,
George Clooney
Sec. Madeleine Albright
Wes Anderson
Drew Barrymore
David Beckham
Bono
Matthew Broderick
Sandra Bullock
James Carville
Michael Chabon
Daniel Craig
John Cusack
Matt Damon
Robert De Niro
Dave Eggers
Peter Gabriel
Jake Gyllenhaal
Václav Havel
Helen Hunt
Anjelica Huston
Scarlett Johansson
Nicole Kidman
Ashton Kutcher
Norman Lear
Madonna
Mary Matalin
Sen. John & Cindy McCain
Rose McGowan
Orhan Pamuk
Sarah Jessica Parke
Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro
Brad Pitt
Julia Roberts
Robert Rodriguez
Salman Rushdie
Meg Ryan
Liev Schreiber
George Soros
Steven Spielberg
Meryl Streep
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Naomi Watts
Prof. Elise Wiesel
Owen Wilson
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