Nobel laureate arrested

last updated 8 January 2015

Rangoon

The ruling military junta in Burma arrested democratic activist Aung San Suu Kyi this week and shut down her party’s offices. The Oxford-trained philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize winner, who won a national election in 1990 but was not allowed to take office, has been under house arrest for more than eight of the past 13 years. She was released from her last incarceration a year ago and has since advocated peaceful negotiation with the military regime. But after some of her followers clashed with junta supporters this week, the regime took her into custody “for her own protection.” Democratic governments across the world, including the U.S. government, immediately called for her release.