Amnesty strips Human rights Awards from Aung San Suu Kyi over 'shameful betrayal'

Naypyidaw: Amnesty International has withdrawn a prestigious Human rights Award from Aung San Suu Kyi over 'shameful betrayal of the values she once stood for'.

The Ambassador of Conscience Award is the latest in a series of accolades to be withdrawn from Myanmar’s de facto leader, who has been criticised for failing to intervene to stop a campaign of violence against the country’s Rohingya Muslims.

amnesty, in a statement, said, "It was withdrawing the award with great sadness because of Ms Suu Kyi’s apparent indifference to atrocities committed by the Myanmar military and increasing intolerance of freedom of expression”.

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While living under house arrest in 2009, Ms Suu Kyi was named as Amnesty’s Ambassador of Conscience in recognition of her peaceful and non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.

But now, eight years after being released from custody, Amnesty said it was disappointed that she had not safeguarded human rights, justice or equality in Myanmar.

Kumi Naidoo (The secretary general of the human rights group) in a statement to Ms Suu Kyi said:

- Our expectation was that you would continue to use your moral authority to speak out against injustice wherever you saw it, not least within Myanmar itself.

- Today, we are profoundly dismayed that you no longer represent a symbol of hope, courage, and the undying defence of human rights.

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- Amnesty International cannot justify your continued status as a recipient of the Ambassador of Conscience award and so with great sadness we are hereby withdrawing it from you.

Amnesty has previously accused her of failing to speak out about military atrocities committed against the Rohingya population in the country’s Rakhine state.

Ms Suu Kyi has also been stripped of the US Holocaust Museum’s Elie Weisel award and Freedom of the City awards, which were withdrawn by Dublin, Edinburgh, Oxford, Glasgow and Newcastle.