Advocacy group, celebrities urge release of Myanmar's Suu Kyi

Advocacy group, celebrities urge release of Myanmar's Suu Kyi New York - Famed movie actors George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon and others from the Not On Our Watch advocacy group on Friday called for the immediate release from prison of Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Also joining the effort were rockstar Bono, singer Madonna, director Steven Spielberg, Nobel Laureates professor Elie Wiesel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright and US Senator John McCain.

The New York-based group said the imprisonment of Suu Kyi this week in Yangon by the military junta is unlawful. The group joined the growing chorus of government leaders and human rights groups that have demanded her release.

"We must not stand by as she is silenced once again," the group said in a statement. "Now is the time for the United Nations and the entire international community to speak clearly, and with one voice: Free Aung San Suu Kyi."

Suu Kyi, head of the National League for Democracy (NLD), has been fighting the military junta to demand democratic reform in one of the poorest nations in Southeast Asia.

She won the presidential elections 19 years ago, but has instead been forced into house arrest by the junta since then. She was taken to the Insein prison to face criminal charges of receiving the visit of a US national under circumstances that have not been clarified by the government.

She was taken from her home arrest on Thursday to the prison and the government there announced a trial to take place next week.(dpa)