A Christian persecution charity has called for people to pray for Aung San Suu Kyim, the former leader of Myanmar, after she has received an additional prison sentence of seven years.
The 77-year-old has been found guilty of corruption on five counts at a Myanmar military court and will now serve 33 years in prison.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) explained that Ms Kyi had an “overwhelming victory” in elections in November 2020. But then her government was toppled by the military in a coup on February 1st 2021, she was then immediately arrested.
Since then, Benedict Rogers, senior East Asia analyst for CSW said Ms Kyi faced “a whole series of entirely trumped-up charges on various levels of corruption.”
Mr Rogers described some of the charges as “ridiculous”. He mentioned one charge was the illegal possession of walkie talkies, which he said “her security team quite legitimately had.”
He wants people to pray not just for Ms Kyim but that Myanmar “military’s grip on power” will be “dislodged.”
He said: “I think we should pray for her that somehow, she'd find both the spiritual and physical strength, that her health will sustain her through this.
“She's personally a very devout Buddhist and relies on her Buddhist meditation, but she's also made it clear and made it known over the years that she does find inspiration from Christian faith.
“She asked David Eubank from the free Burma Rangers many years ago in the 90s and said, ‘I know that you're a Christian, I know Christians pray, please would you hold a Global Day of Prayer for Myanmar?’ and that takes place every year on the second Sunday of March.
“So we should be praying for her that she can get through this.”
“I also ask people to pray for a breakthrough in this appalling crisis in Myanmar.”
“I pray that something would happen, that would dislodge the military's grip on power and lead to a genuine peace process and a return -or not just a return- but the establishment of a genuine democracy.”
Mr Rogers explained it’s important to keep attention on Myanmar and “the military’s horrific human rights violations, crimes against humanity, in the ethnic areas.”