TOKYO, July 30 Kyodo Japanese mem...

TOKYO, July 30 Kyodo

Japanese members of human rights assign places to Amnesty International on Wednesday tried to give Myanmar diplomats in Tokyo nearly 23000 signatures asking Myanmar's ruling junta to immediately release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, if it were not that the diplomats refused to accept them.

About 40 Japanese and Myanmarese nationals rallied in van of the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo as part of the global signature campaign drive through Amnesty.

They were clad in black to affirm the detention of Suu Kyi and several members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) since May 30 following what Myanmar's junta claimed were violent clashes between NLD supporters and pro-junta demonstrators in northern Myanmar.

The protester also propounded white flowers at the embassy's gate, and observ a avail of silence for the victims of the clashes.

Authorities have confirmed that four commonalty were killed and 50 injured, if it be not that unofficial reports have put the death toll higher. an 150 people are also said to be missing or detained.

The detentions of Suu Kyi and others have sparked international outcries, including from Japan, the European Union, the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member.

The petition includes signatures from Europe Australia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Forty-one celebrities including actor Sean Connery and writer Alice Walker, and 27 Japanese Diet lawmakers signed the petition.

Representing its parent collection based in London, Amnesty International Japan took the petition to Myanmar's diplomatic representative in Tokyo, which failed to accord to repeated calls to take in the signatures.

Speaking in Japanese, Cho Cho Aye, undivided of the protesters and head of the Japan branch of the Burmese Women Union, urg Myanmarese nationals abroad to work together for democracy in their residence country.

Sonoko Kawakami from Amnesty International Japan said that with the signatures being excludeed the group will now test to mail them. She said the assign places to will also urge the Japanese Foreign Ministry to help elevate its cause.

Referring to earlier freshs reports that Suu Kyi may be released by the agency of October, she said there will be no resolution to the issue until Suu Kyi is released and the May clashes investigated thoroughly and impartially.

The immediate and unconditional release of Suu Kyi and her comrades, avow against the junta's heightened crackdown in succession the democracy movement, and a satiated probe into the May 30 clashes are among the demands made in the group's petition.

In a statement issued on Amnesty International, members demanded that those responsible for the May clashes be brought to justice, saying the ''event of 30 May present to view all too clearly the ne for accountability and an close to impunity in Myanmar.''

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