Tuesday 6 November 2007

Dr Aung San Suu Kyi given the Freedom of Glasgow

http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/News/DrSuuKyiFreedomOfCity.htm

The City of Glasgow will give its highest honour - the Freedom of the City - to Dr Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma, after Lord Provost Bob Winter proposed the distinction at the Council meeting of 1 November.

Dr Suu Kyi has been involved in the struggle for democracy in Burma for decades, and since her return to the country in 1988, she has been under house arrest for many years.

Dr Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and the European Union’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990. She led the National Democracy League to a landslide election victory in 1990.

Other notable figures to have received this honour include Sir William Burrell, Andrew Carnegie, Marie Curie, Kenny Dalgleish, the Duke of Edinburgh, Sir Alex Ferguson, Lloyd George, David Livingstone, Lord Macfarlane, Nelson Mandela and Jim Watt.

Lord Provost Bob Winter said: "For any who might contend that today’s motion is a mere political gesture, I refer them to the widepread acknowledgement that the Freedom of the City of Glasgow helped Nelson Mandela on his 'Long Walk To Freedom'. And just as Dr Aung San Suu Kyi deserves the Freedom as much as he did, so I hope that in granting her the Freedom of the City, our support may assist in securing her release and the achievement of a free, peaceful and democratic Burma."

The Freedom of the City of Glasgow is something Glasgow City Council is statutorily entitled to award to "persons of distinction or persons who have rendered eminent service to the City".

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