By DENIS D. GRAY,
AP

BANGKOK -Hollywood star Julia Roberts and detained Chinese activists are among celebrities and political prisoners tweeting and signing petitions for the release of Myanmar’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as she approaches her 64th birthday — her 14th spent in detention, organizers said Sunday.

Suu Kyi will spend her 64th birthday Friday in Yangon’s notorious Insein prison, facing charges of violating terms of her house arrest by harboring an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside home.

The ruling junta is widely expected to deliver a guilty verdict, which could put the Nobel Peace Prize laureate in prison for up to five years. She has already spent more than 13 of the last 19 years under house arrest.

“We must not stand by as she is silenced again. Now is the time for the international community to speak with one voice,” wrote Roberts as part of a campaign — “64 words for Aung San Suu Kyi” — organized by a coalition of human rights and activist groups.

The campaign, launched May 27, asks Suu Kyi’s supporters to tweet, write text messages or send video and photos to its Web site, http://64forsuu.org.

Similar campaigns on Suu Kyi’s past birthdays and other milestones generated some global publicity for her cause but have failed to change the junta’s harsh attacks on all signs of dissent. Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been dominated by the military since 1962.

“Burma’s generals think they can act with impunity. We’ll have to wait until after the trial verdict to see if this time will be any different,” said Mark Farmaner of Burma Campaign UK, one of the organizers.

Actress Demi Moore, actor Kevin Spacey, artist Yoko Ono and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown were among the contributors to the Web site. James Cameron, director of “Titanic” and “The Terminator,” wrote: “While my heroes are fictional, Aung San Suu Kyi is a real-life hero and she needs help from you.”

In a parallel campaign, the organizers have to date gathered the signatures of 107 former or current political prisoners from over 20 countries calling for the release of political prisoners in Myanmar and calling on the U.N. Security Council to impose a global arms embargo on the Southeast Asian nation.

“The continued denial of your freedom unacceptably attacks the human rights of all 2,156 political prisoners in Myanmar. As those also incarcerated for our political beliefs, we share the world’s outrage,” the 64-word message said.

The signatories include Kim Dae-jung, former South Korean president and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate; Shirin Ebadi, Iranian human rights campaigner who also won the prize; former Czech president Vaclav Havel and two female Chinese activists currently under house arrest, Yuan Weijing and Zeng Jinyan.

“Aung San Suu Kyi’s continued detention shames Asia,” wrote Kim.

Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy prime minister of Malaysia, urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to lift its policy of nonintervention in Myanmar, which is a member of the 10-nation bloc.

Organizers of the campaign include Human Rights Watch, the US Campaign for Burma, Burma Info Japan, Open Society Institute, France’s Info Birmanie and Amnesty International.

Myanmar asylum seekers find safe haven in Palau

By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA

,AP

KOROR, Palau -The newcomers on this tiny Pacific nation are young and in limbo, scared that they’ll be arrested if they’re sent back to their native land. Most speak no

English, but they say they’re astounded by the generosity of Palau and its people.

They are not the Chinese Muslims from Guantanamo who made world news last week when Palau’s president said the country would take them. Instead, they are 11 asylum seekers from Myanmar — and they may offer the best idea what the freed detainees’ new lives might be.

“They didn’t know us,” Aye Aye Thant, 34, the group’s sole fluent English speaker and de facto spokeswoman, said Sunday. “We are not workers, and we don’t serve their country. But we are treated as their own siblings.”

Fearing arrest for their political activities, the 10 men and one woman fled military-run Myanmar to Malaysia and then to the Philippines, always moving on because they thought the countries might deport them. They had never heard of Palau, but friends suggested it. It also offered an attractive feature — visa-free entry.

They arrived in late February, and Palau has mobilized to protect them.

Once their money ran out, the local Roman Catholic church offered to house and feed them. On Monday, a senator — the president’s younger brother — will take over, letting them stay at his farmhouse as they await word on their application for asylum.

“It’s our age-old tradition to receive those in need whenever they somehow arrive on our shores,” President Johnson Toribiong said in an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday. He said that idea is behind the decision to accept the Chinese Muslims, known as Uighurs, and rejected criticism that the move is somehow tied to U.S. aid.

The Myanmar asylum seekers say in tropical Palau, one of the world’s smallest countries, they finally feel free.

“We were going to be arrested by the military government (in Myanmar),” said Aye Aye Thant, a former English teacher who openly opposes Myanmar’s ruling junta.

She decided to leave after a family friend and police officer warned her father that she appeared on a government arrest list. She had made unauthorized trips to the Irrawaddy Delta region, hit hard by last year’s Cyclone Nargis, to pass out donated supplies and money.

Her cousin Agganana, another asylum seeker who goes by one name, said he led various anti-government demonstrations at home.

All but one in the group, which includes two Buddhist monks, are members of the overseas offshoot of the National League for Democracy led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi currently is on trial on charges of violating terms of her house arrest by harboring an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside home.

In Palau, a tropical island nation of 20,000 people, local residents approach them from time to time, offering what they can to help.

Their main benefactor from the Catholic church, Father Rusk Saburo, stopped by Sunday afternoon to check on them before their move.

They immediately swarmed him, with smiles and greetings that transcended the language barrier.

Saburo, one of Palau’s three Roman Catholic priests, said the church has been paying $500 a month for the apartment. It also has provided groceries and medical care.

“The goal of life for us is you help a stranger,” he said, sitting between the two Buddhist monks. “No questions asked.”

At their new home starting Monday, the men will help out on the senator’s farm in return for housing. And Aye Aye Thant said she may be able to start teaching English informally.

Even though the group seems happy with their transition to Palau, Saburo admits he has concerns about the Uighurs’ (pronounced WEE’-gurs) expected arrival. How will they fit in after a life spent largely in dry western China? Where will they live? What will they do?

Saburo said he must practice what he preaches, regardless of religion.

“Whether the president has other motives or not is another matter,” he said. “For humanitarian purposes, I am a Christian, so I accept anybody who comes in peace. I’m sure a good number of my parishioners feel the same way.”