Ottawa (June 16, 2009) – over 32,000 Canadians have supported for the release of more than 2100 political prisoners in Burma including the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by signing an online petition. The unprecedented international campaign obtained 680,000 signatures within six weeks.

A delegation of former political prisoners and human rights activists from Burma is now in New York to deliver the petition to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today. They will also participate in a press conference hosted by Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the United Nations today at 3pm in United Nations Plaza.

“Political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, are the hope for democracy and future leaders of our country. Their lives are at stake," said Tate Naing, a former political prisoner and Secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).

Tate Naing, along with Khin Ohmar, Foreign Affairs Secretary of the Forum for Democracy in Burma, and Nyi Nyi Aung, whose mother and two cousins are serving jail terms of up to 65 years for their pro-democracy activities, is now in New York to deliver the petition to Ban Ki-moon.

The UN Secretary-General is planning to visit Burma to press for the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. He is reported to have discussed a date for the visit with Burmese military authorities. The global petition urges him to secure the release of all Burma's political prisoners.

The Canadian Friends of Burma (CFOB) encouraged supporters in Canada to sign the online petition in support of this international campaign for the release of all political prisoners in Burma.

CFOB applauds the efforts of Tate Naing, Khin Ohmar, Nyi Nyi Aung and the organizations they represent. Many in the Burma democracy movement including CFOB have been disappointed with the glowing terms that some senior UN staffs have used to describe the supposed progress that the Burmese military regime claims to have made. Ban Ki Moon and the UN must be reminded that the facts on the ground in Burma do not represent the military regime's propaganda.

CFOB Executive Director Tin Maung Htoo hopes that UN members will take the Burma issue seriously and push the UN to do more for Burma.

Tin Maung Htoo believes “the situation in Burma is very grave at this point, there are a huge number of political prisoners languishing in horrible conditions, as I speak there are many Karen refugees being killed in brutal military raids in Eastern Burma, in Chin state many are still suffering from a famine and in the Cyclone Nargis affected Irrawaddy delta area thousands are still homeless. All of Burma is suffering because of the brutality and incompetence of Burma's generals.”