Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to appear in court in person during the appeal against her 18-month house 
arrest extension. Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention was extended after she was convicted of breaching security laws by allowing an uninvited US man into her home.
Ms Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention. The latest sentence has drawn international condemnation, and means she cannot take part in elections next year.
Meanwhile, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report states that the number of political prisoners in Burma’s notorious jails has doubled in the two years, since the 2007 ‘Saffron Uprisings’ dramtically captured in the footage of Burma VJ.
According to HRW there are more than 2,200 people jailed for their beliefs in 43 jails, often held in solitary confinement in small, dark cells.
To find out more about the conditions faced by political prisoners in Burma, read our guest-blog post “Burmese hell holes”.
Read the full BBC news article here.
Richard Gere was kind enough to sign a mounted poster of Burma VJ that we are auctioning on behalf of the DVB (Democratic Voice of Burma).
The DVB is a non-profit media organization based in Oslo, Norway. Run by Burmese expatriates, it makes radio and television broadcasts aimed at providing uncensored news and information about Burma, the country’s military regime, and its political opposition. The DVB played a pivotal roll in the production of Burma VJ and all the money rasied from the sale of the signed poster will go directly to the DVB.
You can bid for a Burma VJ movie poster, signed by Richard Gere by emailing
poster@burmavjmovie.com. Only the highest bid wins, entries close midday, Wednesday 22nd July.
We will contact the person with the highest bid to arrange for delivery and payment.
As reported by the BBC, a verdict is expected soon on the trial of Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Jailed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
A BBC correspondent in Burma spoke to people about their hopes and fears for Aung San Suu Kyi. In Burma’s second city, Mandalay, the streets are full of bicycles at rush hour as men and women head to their places of work and study. But behind the picture-postcard setting of palaces and stupas [temples], is a country where people can be arrested for telling a joke or having a photograph of jailed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Behind closed doors, in the security of their homes and among those they can trust, people hand out pictures of Ms Suu Kyi. To be caught by police with her photograph is cause enough to be imprisoned. To be caught talking to a foreign journalist means risking a sentence to a term in one of Burma’s many jails. But people are angry and want the world to know of their plight and their reverence for the woman referred to as The Lady.
In the words of one Mandalay citizen: “People love Aung San Suu Kyi. People believe Aung San Suu Kyi. She’s our only hope…We love her. She is the hope of the people. If she was jailed the people will be angry. And this could be the small spark that can burn down the palace”.
With elections due next year, many believe that her arrest is a convenient way for the generals to keep the one person they fear out of the way.
Read the full BBC article here.
For more information about Aung San Suu Kyi visit The Burma Campaign UK.
We love this Aung San Suu Kyi image designed by artist Shepard Fairey, whose Barack Obama ‘HOPE’ poster became a totemic symbol in Obama’s presential campaign.
According to the LA Times, the new poster of Suu Kyi was created by Fairey in cooperation with the Human Rights Action Center and the U.S. Campaign for Burma, who are working together on a concert dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi, to take place in LA this Autumn.
The ruling Burmese military regime does everything it can to prevent the spread of news to, from, and around Burma. That’s why its so crucial that the rest of the world continues to talk, care and campaign on Burma. Compelling, moving art, like Shepard’s latest poster (and the film Burma VJ for that matter) give causes new audiences and an injection of energy - never a bad thing in our eyes.
We hope that the art from our campaign can fit this bill as well. Check back soon for images for our new Burma VJ teaser.
