BANGKOK — Myanmar’s leading dissident, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was reunited with her youngest son on Tuesday after a decade-long separation during which he was not allowed to enter the country.
The decision by the military government to grant Mr. Aris a visa was a symbolic gesture of leniency by the junta which released Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest 10 days ago and has allowed her to meet with supporters and give interviews to the foreign media.
Television footage from the airport in Yangon, Myanmar’s main city, showed Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi and her son in a brief embrace before walking out of the terminal together.
Mr. Aris, 33, lives in Britain and has been repeatedly been denied visas since his last visit in 2000, according to news reports. One of the first things he did after greeting his mother on Tuesday was showing her a red tattoo bearing the symbol of the National League for Democracy, Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party that won elections two decades ago, a result ignored by the military.
Tuesday’s reunion underlined the personal toll of the political campaign Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi has waged during the past two decades. During that period she was detained for 15 years and only rarely allowed visitors or communication with the outside world.
She has always been free to leave Myanmar, according to her lawyers, but chose to stay because she was afraid she would be denied re-entry.
In 1991, her eldest son, Alexander Aris, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of his mother. Her late husband, Michael Aris, raised their two children in Britain. He was unable to visit with his wife before his death a decade ago at the age of 53.
Myanmar’s military has sent conflicting signals of liberalization and continued repression in recent weeks. Elections on Nov. 7 were criticized by most Western governments as designed to favor military-backed party, which won a landslide victory. Then the release of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, who is widely admired in the country, raised hopes of reconciliation between pro-democracy forces and the junta.
But the government has allowed only limited coverage of her release in both the state and local private media. Censors banned most photos of the large crowds that came to greet Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi when she was released, local journalists say.
Source:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/world/asia/24myanmar.html?_r=1&src=twrhp
Related news :http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/suu-kyi-reunited-with-son-23156997;_ylt=AvR0jVIUBa1_mJ5mkDn090yz174F;_ylu=X3oDMTE3MThsZzg1BHBvcwMxBHNlYwNtb3N0LXBvcHVsYXIEc2xrA3N1dWt5aXJldW5pdA--
The decision by the military government to grant Mr. Aris a visa was a symbolic gesture of leniency by the junta which released Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest 10 days ago and has allowed her to meet with supporters and give interviews to the foreign media.
Television footage from the airport in Yangon, Myanmar’s main city, showed Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi and her son in a brief embrace before walking out of the terminal together.
Mr. Aris, 33, lives in Britain and has been repeatedly been denied visas since his last visit in 2000, according to news reports. One of the first things he did after greeting his mother on Tuesday was showing her a red tattoo bearing the symbol of the National League for Democracy, Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party that won elections two decades ago, a result ignored by the military.
Tuesday’s reunion underlined the personal toll of the political campaign Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi has waged during the past two decades. During that period she was detained for 15 years and only rarely allowed visitors or communication with the outside world.
She has always been free to leave Myanmar, according to her lawyers, but chose to stay because she was afraid she would be denied re-entry.
In 1991, her eldest son, Alexander Aris, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of his mother. Her late husband, Michael Aris, raised their two children in Britain. He was unable to visit with his wife before his death a decade ago at the age of 53.
Myanmar’s military has sent conflicting signals of liberalization and continued repression in recent weeks. Elections on Nov. 7 were criticized by most Western governments as designed to favor military-backed party, which won a landslide victory. Then the release of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, who is widely admired in the country, raised hopes of reconciliation between pro-democracy forces and the junta.
But the government has allowed only limited coverage of her release in both the state and local private media. Censors banned most photos of the large crowds that came to greet Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi when she was released, local journalists say.
Source:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/world/asia/24myanmar.html?_r=1&src=twrhp
Related news :http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/suu-kyi-reunited-with-son-23156997;_ylt=AvR0jVIUBa1_mJ5mkDn090yz174F;_ylu=X3oDMTE3MThsZzg1BHBvcwMxBHNlYwNtb3N0LXBvcHVsYXIEc2xrA3N1dWt5aXJldW5pdA--
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