November 15, 2010 / 8 Kislev 5771

To the Honorable Aung San Suu Kyi, 

It was with excitement and delight that I, together with all the free world, heard the news of your long-awaited release from house arrest.

True freedom is inner freedom. I believe from my own experience that through all the years of your imprisonment you remained free, while your oppressors, even after your release, remain shackled in their inner prisons.

Your heroic determination and devotion to freedom and to your people say more about the soul of the Burmese people than all the rhetoric of the regime that tried to keep you silent.

With sincere hope for a free and democratic Burma,

Natan Sharansky

Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel

Former Soviet dissident and political prisoner