THE captive Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi has been given the freedom of Edinburgh in recognition of her plight, writes Mark Macaskill.

The democracy campaigner, who has spent much of the past 16 years under house arrest, is only the second person outside of the city to be given its highest honour.

Suu Kyi, who marks her 60th birthday today, was given the keys to the city at a symbolic ceremony, during which her portrait and a scroll were placed on an empty chair.

Afterwards Kim Aris, her son, planted a commemorative tree in Princes Street Gardens, which was blessed by a Burmese monk.

Sir Sean Connery, Jack McConnell, the first minister, and Ian Pearson, foreign and commonwealth minister, were among those who sent messages of support.

Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, won a landslide victory in 1990 but has never been allowed to govern by the military, which has run the country since 1962.

She has been under house arrest twice before — the first time for six years between 1989 and 1995, and the second time for 20 months until she was freed in May 2002.

Suu Kyi was arrested again in May 2003 after the regime’s militia attacked her convoy and killed up to 100 of her supporters. She was detained in prison before being transferred to her lakeside villa, where she has remained ever since.

Her efforts to bring peace to Burma have been acknowledged with more than 50 international awards, including the Nobel peace prize in 1991. She is the world’s only imprisoned recipient of the prize.

The only other individual not from Edinburgh to be given the freedom of the city was Nelson Mandela in 1997.

Times Recommends

• Family cuts its waste to one binful a year
• Cameron can learn from Thatcher in 1979
• VAT is back ... and it's confusing