Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi released

Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s beloved resistance leader, has apparently just been released after more than seven years of house arrest—and 15 years of the last 20. A Nobel Peace Prize winner, she has been a champion of and symbol for the grassroots efforts to topple the incredibly repressive rule of the military dictatorship in that country. This news comes just as the junta announced that it has secured, by way of rigged elections, leadership in both houses of the country’s parliament. Here are some images of the crowds awaiting her release:

She is expected to speak publicly on Sunday. But according to The New York Times, she wasn’t completely silent: “We must unite!” she said. “If we are united, we can get what we want.”

Aung San Suu Kyi has been an advocate of the crippling international sanctions against Myanmar—which are meant, in part, to pressure the junta for her release. According to this Al Jazeera report (and Nicholas Kristof), some believe that in doing she has become out of touch with the needs of the people:

If you haven’t already, make sure to see Burma VJ, a film about how a small group of media activists risked their lives to cover the remarkable Buddhist monks’ protest in 2007: