Freedom from Fear: Aung San Suu Kyi

18 June 2010 - 11am

Aung San Suu Kyi is a political icon, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and the charismatic leader of Burma's struggle for human rights - but at immense personal cost. Under house arrest for many years, unable to watch her children grow up and excluded from public life, her plight is ongoing. As the Burmese regime prepares for its first election in years, Suu Kyi will be detained as a political prisoner throughout.

On the eve of her 65th birthday, this portrait talks to friends and loved ones, colleagues from her days at Oxford and the UN and fellow dissidents. Featuring contributions from Desmond Tutu and Kurt Campbell, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia - the most recent senior foreign politician to meet Suu Kyi face to face. The programme presents a more complex picture of the person behind the icon. 

Presented by BBC World Affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge.

Producer: Simon Hollis
 

A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4 and World Service