New Delhi - Campaigners and Burmese activists in the United Kingdom said they will hand a giant key to the Chinese Embassy later this month, symbolizing the key to freedom that world leaders hold and urging them to work together to pressure Burma's ruling junta to free the more than 2,000 political prisoners in the Southeast Asian country.
On October 24, Burmese activists along with the Burma Campaign UK (BCUK) are set to hand over the giant key during a planned protest that will call for the release of political prisoners in Burma, including Nobel Peace Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who will have been detained for 13 years come the date.
"It is an illegal detention, the United Nations itself declared the regime is holding Aung San Suu Kyi illegally," Mark Farmaner, Director of BCUK said while condemning the junta's escalated rate of arrest and detention of political activists over the past year.
He said the protest is aimed at highlighting the worsening situation of political prisoners, which now number nearly double the figure of September 2007.
BCUK said the number of political prisoners has drastically jumped to 2,130 from just over 1,000 since the monk-led protests in September 2007, which the military junta put a violent end to.
"We are going to be doing all we can to raise awareness," Farmaner said of the protest plan, which coincides with the Asia-Europe Summit to be held on October 24-25 in Beijing.
BCUK said the giant key that will be presented to the Chinese Embassy will carry the names of all political prisoners in Burma and will symbolize that the world's leaders, who will be meeting in Beijing, hold the key to their freedom in their ability to pressure the junta.
Farmaner said the international community, including the United Nations, has failed thus far to deal with the Burmese junta with their soft approaches and that it's time for them to take a much stronger line.
"For too long the UN has fallen for the lies of the regime. They must secure real change," BUCK said in a statement.
There has never been a UN Secretary General to visit Burma to discuss political problems, and the European and Asian governments have never joined forces to pressure the regime to release prisoners, the group said.
"They must secure real change. The release of political prisoners should be the minimum benchmark for progress that Ban Ki-moon aims for in December," the group said.
The group also called on other Burmese and people from around the world to join in protest on October 24. The protest in the United Kingdom is a joint undertaking, incorporating several other Burmese groups including the Burmese Democratic Movement Association, Kachin National Organization, Karen Community Association and Burmese Muslim Association.
