Amnesty International today asked comedians and audiences at the Edinburgh Festival to get behind a new campaign for a comedian jailed for 35 years for criticising the government.
Zarganar, a keen football fan, will also get special billing at the "Comics vs. Critics" football match hosted by Amnesty International and Fest magazine on Sunday 15 August at Meadowbank stadium.
All the players' shirts will have Zarganar's name on the back and a life-size cut-out of Zarganar will feature in the team photos.
Rob Rouse, who captains the comedians team this year, said : "It’s sickening that this man who just wanted to help people and make them laugh, could spend the next 35 years in jail. Zarganar shouldn’t be in prison. Of all the people who value free speech it’s us comedians who cherish it more than most, so we’ve got to stand up when one of our own gets silenced."
Zarganar, aged 49, is one of Burma’s biggest comedians. He has been held since November 2008, after he criticised the Burmese government’s response to the 2008 natural disaster of Cyclone Nargis and started his own relief efforts.