Tuesday, September 24, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 38
Pope Francis has offered to give refuge on Vatican territory to Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Italian media said on Tuesday.
“I asked for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and I met her son in Rome. I have proposed to the Vatican to give her shelter on our territory,” the pope said according to an account of meetings with Jesuits in Asia during his trip there earlier this month.
The Corriere della Sera daily published an article by Italian priest Antonio Spadaro giving extracts from these private meetings, which took place in Indonesia, East Timor and Singapore between September 2 and 13.
“We cannot stay silent about the situation in Myanmar today. We must do something,” the pope is reported as saying.
Suu Kyi, 78, is serving a 27-year prison sentence on charges ranging from corruption to not respecting Covid pandemic restrictions.
She was arrested by the military when it staged a coup in 2021 and is said by local media to be suffering health problems in detention.
The 1991 Nobel Peace laureate was once hailed as a beacon for human rights.
The crackdown is the subject of an ongoing United Nations genocide investigation and persecution continues, according to Rohingya refugees in neighbouring Bangladesh.
Mainly Buddhist Myanmar has been in turmoil since the 2021 coup, with the junta fighting both establish ethnic rebel groups and newer pro-democracy forces.
Source: AFP
