Rev. Danny Fisher

This from Avaaz.org:

Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is seriously ill, locked up by the brutal Burmese regime on new trumped up charges.

This cruel maneuver comes days before her 13 years of detention expires and will keep her jailed until after the 2010 elections. The only ‘crime’ she committed was to peacefully call for democracy.

Burma’s brave democracy activists are calling on UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to secure all 2,100 political prisoners release — he can make this a condition of any renewed international engagement. We have just six days to get Ban Ki Moon’s attention — the petition will be presented on May 26th. Sign and send on the petition below.

To UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon: The military government must immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Khun Tun Oo and Min Ko Naing. The release of all political prisoners is the first and most important step towards freedom and democracy in Burma. We, the undersigned, call upon UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to make it his personal priority to secure the release of all of Burma’s political prisoners.

Sign and send the petition here.

Image via New Mandala.
New Mandala points us to news about and photos of the peaceful vigil currently taking place outside of Burma’s Insein Prison, where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and many other prisoners of conscience are currently being held. Take a look.

From the Asian Art Museum…

Images via Variety.
Interesting news from Variety today for those of us interested in U.S. civil rights history: the estate of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., has granted Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg the exclusive rights to produce “the definitive portrait of his life.” It is the first time any filmmaker has been given permission to use all of Dr. King’s intellectual property, including his various speeches (which he copyrighted in his lifetime).