Amnesty Strips Myanmar Leader Aung San Suu Kyi of Top Prize
The
politician and Nobel peace prize winner received the honour in 2009, when she
was living under house arrest.
The
rights group said it was profoundly dismayed at her failure to speak out for
the Rohingya minority, some 700,000 of whom have fled a military crackdown.
This
is the latest honour in a string of awards Ms Suu Kyi, 73, has lost.
"We are
profoundly dismayed that you no longer represent a symbol of hope, courage, and
the undying defence of human rights," Amnesty's Secretary General Kumi
Naidoo wrote in a letter to the Myanmar leader.
"[Her]
denial of the gravity and scale of the atrocities [against the Rohingya] means
there is little prospect of the situation improving," Mr Naidoo said.
The
organisation, which once feted her as a beacon for democracy, announced its
decision on the eighth anniversary of Ms Suu Kyi's release from house arrest.
Aung San Suu Kyi's
unswerving pursuit of democracy for Myanmar in the face of a brutal military
dictatorship brought her nearly 15 years of house arrest. It also spurred a
succession of governments, cities and human rights groups around the world to
bestow their honours upon her.
As
far back as 1989, Amnesty International declared Ms Suu Kyi a "prisoner of
conscience" and 20 years later awarded her its most prestigious award.
Nelson Mandela had been a previous recipient.
Now,
Amnesty International has written to Ms Suu Kyi saying it's withdrawing its
prize because - as they put it - "we can no longer justify her status as
an Ambassador of Conscience".
United
Nations investigators concluded that, while she was not complicit in the
alleged genocide last year, she had failed to use her moral authority to help
prevent the murder and rape of thousands of Rohingyas by the still-dominant
army.
One
by one, the freedoms, fellowships and even an honorary citizenship have been
revoked for a civilian leader who stubbornly denies crimes against humanity
have taken place on her watch
Ms Suu Kyi came to
power as the de facto head of Buddhist-majority Myanmar's civilian
administration in 2016.
She
has since faced international pressure, including from Amnesty International,
to condemn the army's alleged brutality against the Rohingya. However she has
refused to do so.
She has also defended the jailing of two Reuters journalists investigating
the killing of Rohingya Muslims.
The last time Ms Suu
Kyi spoke to the BBC in April 2017, she said: "I think ethnic cleansing is
too strong an expression to use for what is happening."
Her
government claims it will begin to welcome back the first groups of refugees
later this week as part of a deal with Bangladesh, which has alarmed the UN and
aid agencies.
The
UN refugee agency wants Rohingya families to be able to return to their former
villages and decide for themselves if they feel they are able to live there safely
and with dignity.
FROM .bbc.com/news/world-asia-
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