Zarganar will be the focus of protest and publicity at the upcoming Edinburgh festival, the largest cultural festival in the world. Amnesty International volunteers at the Edinburgh festival will be engaging with a global audience spreading awareness about Zarganar’s case and requesting that they send letters to the Burmese authorities on behalf of the comedian and other political prisoners in the country. “We believe that Zarganar is a prisoner of conscience who has been imprisoned solely because of expression of his beliefs. He should therefore be immediately and unconditionally released,” Steve Ballinger of Amnesty International told DVB.
An event called ‘Stand up for freedom’ will be organised featuring German comedian Michael Mittermeiser and other renowned comedians from the world over, in line with the protests.
Visitors at the festival will be given the opportunity to take pictures with Zarganar’s, or any other political prisoner’s name written on their palms. These pictures would then make it to the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to be held in Brussels in October with the aim of adding international pressure on the military junta.
Zarganar, an avid football fan, will have a football match dedicated to support his release on August 16. The match between “critics” and “comedians” will witness all players taking to the field wearing jerseys with Zarganar’s picture on them.