Previous Laureates of the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize include the Burmese pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi and Pope Shenouda III of the Egyptian Coptic Church.
So the plea by Michael Aris, the husband of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, to let him enter the country and see his wife - perhaps for the last time - has little chance of being granted.
The military-backed civilian government freed hundreds of political prisoners, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Those fighting to free Puracal include the director of the California Innocence Project, the human-rights attorney who helped win freedom for Burmese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and an ex-FBI agent who was one of the early champions of Amanda Knox's innocence.
Beyond the archipelago, her ability to overcome force without resorting to violence made her a role model for an ever-lengthening line of women leaders--Violeta Chamorro, Benazir Bhutto, Chandrika Kumaratunga, Khaleda Zia, Megawati Sukarnoputri, Aung San Suu Kyi--who, like her, were thrust into public life by the violent fates that befell husbands and fathers.
Other questions focused on the draft Terrorist Asset-Freezing Bill, combating drug-resistant tuberculosis, and Burma's decision to ban Aung San Suu Kyi from standing or voting in elections.
It boycotted the previous polls because of election laws that banned Aung San Suu Kyi - a former political prisoner - from running.
It has begun to work with the Aung San Suu Kyi-led opposition, which now has a small presence in parliament after by-elections deemed free and fair.
By-elections in April 2012, seen largely as free and fair, resulted in a landslide win for the Aung San Suu Kyi-led pro-democracy opposition, which now has a small presence in parliament.
Burma's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) has re-elected Aung San Suu Kyi as its leader, at the end of its first ever congress.
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for an international boycott of the event.
Than Shwe and his deputies and talked to detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi twice.
Nobel prize winner and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest.
Obama then met pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi at the lakeside home where she spent years under house arrest.
Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said she is still "fond" of her country's army, even though it kept her under house arrest for 15 years.
Last year's was Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
BBC: Vanessa Redgrave leads parade to open Brighton Festival
During the two-day trip earlier this month, the secretary-general met with authorities and asked them to immediately release all political prisoners, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The gala, which takes place in the Italian capital until 4 November, will open with Luc Besson's The Lady, a biopic of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
BBC: Actor Richard Gere to collect Rome Film Festival honour
Ms Redgrave is well-known for her political activism and campaigning for human rights and follows last years guest director, the Burmese pro-Democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, in that tradition.
The party of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released from years of house arrest after the elections, has rejoined the political process after boycotting the 2010 polls.
It is also involved in The Lady, a biopic of the Burmese pro-democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi, and My Week with Marilyn, in which Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe will be played by Oscar nominee Michelle Williams.
In April the NLD won 43 parliamentary seats in the by-elections, and Aung San Suu Kyi took a seat in the lower house of parliament.
FORBES: Socialism or Free Markets? Consider Myanmar and Thailand
Still, the prime minister's departure removes the one senior member of the junta who offered any hope of reconciliation between the junta and the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Three other Nobel peace laureates were also unable to attend their ceremonies due to political reasons -- human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi, Polish trade union leader Lech Walesa, and Russian Cold War dissident Andrei Sakharov -- but spouses or other relatives were able to accept the awards on their behalf.
On May 25th Myanmar's military rulers extended for another year the house arrest of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
ECONOMIST: The junta extends the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi
Daughters who have followed their fathers into politics include Myanmar's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the vice-presidents of Indonesia and the Philippines respectively, Megawati Sukarnoputri and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
On Tuesday he will meet Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, who led her pro-democracy NLD party to win 43 seats in by-elections on 1 April.
BBC: UN's Ban Ki-moon urges Burma to unite on path to change
Details of the change, announced Wednesday in the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper, remain unclear, including the exact value of the Myanmar kyat when it is floated Sunday, which also is the day of a key parliamentary by-election contested by famed dissident Aung San Suu Kyi.
Other questions focused on lorry road user charging, the EU-Russia pact, and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.
BBC: Ministers updates peers on UK visa applications in Iraq
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