Bangkok  - Myanmar pro-democracy activists on Friday launched a global signature campaign for the release of more than 2,000 political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The campaign seeks to get 888,888 signatures before May 24, the date that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate should legally be released from house arrest.

The signature target symbolizes August 8, 1988, the day Myanmar's junta massacred an estimated 3,000 pro-democracy demonstrators in Yangon.

Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since May 2003 on charges of threatening national stability. Under Myanmar law, the sentence for this charge cannot exceed five years.

"Without the release of all political prisoners, there can be no peace and stability in our country," said Tate Naing, a former political prisoner and secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).

"With this signature campaign, we want to show [UN Secretary General] Ban Ki-moon just how many people around the world care about this issue," he said.

The petition calls on Ban to make it his personal priority to secure the release of all political prisoners in Myanmar as the first step toward national reconciliation and democratization in the country.

An estimated 150 Myanmar exile and solidarity groups are participating in the campaign, which can be visited on www. fbppn. net. (dpa)