|
BRUSSELS - Criticism poured in for Myanmar Tuesday over the sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi as the EU promised more sanctions and one of its key regional partners called for the democracy icon's immediate release.
After the authorities ordered the Nobel laureate to remain under house arrest for a further 18 months following a trial in Yangon, protesters rallied outside Myanmar's diplomatic missions to denounce the outcome.
The sentence, which effectively ruled out any possibility of the 64-year-old standing in polls next year, provoked immediate calls for tougher sanctions against the military rulers who prevented Suu Kyi from taking power after her party won elections in 1990.
"The EU will respond with additional targeted measures against those responsible for the verdict," the European Union's Swedish presidency said in a statement on behalf of the 27-nation bloc.
President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said Suu Kyi's continued detention was "unjustified and unacceptable on all accounts".
An EU source said a "written procedure" had been launched to beef up the sanctions which could come into force on Friday if there was no opposition from the bloc's members.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said any new EU sanctions had to hit the junta where it hurt.
The new measures "must in particular target the resources that they directly profit from, in the wood and ruby sector," said a statement from his office.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also denounced the sentence.
"She should not have been tried and she should not have been convicted," she said, speaking during a visit to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Gordon Brown, prime minister of the former colonial power Britain, said he was "saddened and angry" at the verdict in the "sham trial".
"This is a purely political sentence designed to prevent her from taking part in the regime's planned elections next year," he said.
The British premier said it was time for an arms embargo against the junta by the UN Security Council, whose permanent members include Myanmar's traditional ally China.
Criticism was more muted closer to home but Malaysia's foreign minister said Suu Kyi should be released immediately and called for an urgent meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc.
"We were hoping that the junta will release her unconditionally and will hold an election to enable Suu Kyi and other political detainees to participate in that election," Anifah Aman told AFP.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo made a similar point: "They don't want her to be out before the election," he told reporters.
And a third ASEAN member Indonesia said it was "very disappointed" by the verdict in a statement from a foreign ministry spokesman.
In July, ASEAN rejected US calls to expel Myanmar from the group and opposed sanctions on Myanmar.
There was no reaction from China, Thailand and India, Myanmar's three powerful regional neighbours. In the past they have been accused of helping to prop up the junta in Yangon.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the verdict was a "new low" for the military government in Myanmar.
"The Australian government is convinced that Aung San Suu Kyi was tried on spurious charges and not granted a fair hearing," he said. Sanctions would continue "until we see genuine political change".
In Japan, about 100 activists, many of them refugees from Myanmar, protested outside Myanmar's embassy, waving portraits of the Nobel laureate and challenging the ambassador to explain the ruling.
Irene Khan, secretary general of London-based Amnesty International, described the verdict as "shameful" and "nothing more than legal and political theatre".
New York-based Human Rights Watch called the conviction a "reprehensible abuse of power" by the junta and urged regional allies to press for her release.
- AFP/ir
|
|
|
