Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi carries flowers as she visits a polling station in Kawhmu township, Burma, 1 April 2012 Aung San Suu Kyi stood for election for the first time in 2012 Like the South African leader Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi has become an international symbol of peaceful resistance in the face of oppression. The 66-year-old spent most of the last two decades in some form of detention because of her efforts to bring democracy to military-ruled Burma. In 1991, a year after her National League for Democracy (NLD) won an overwhelming victory in an election the junta later nullified, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The committee chairman, Francis Sejested, called her "an outstanding example of the power of the powerless". She was sidelined for Burma's first elections in two decades on 7 November 2010 but released from house arrest six days later. As the new government embarked on a process of reform, Ms Suu Kyi and her party rejoined the political process. On 1 April 2012 she stood for parliament in a by-election, arguing it was what her supporters wanted even if the country's reforms were "not irreversible". She and her fellow NLD candidates won a landslide victory and weeks later the former political prisoner was sworn into parliament, a move unimaginable before the 2010 polls. Political pedigree Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of the country's independence hero, General Aung San. He was assassinated during the transition period in July 1947, just six months before independence, when Ms Suu Kyi was only two. Aung San Suu Kyi (centre) with her parents and two brothers in an image from 1947 Ms Suu Kyi was a toddler when her father was assassinated In 1960 she went to India with her mother Daw Khin Kyi, who had been appointed Burma's ambassador to Delhi. Four years later she went to Oxford University in the UK, where she studied philosophy, politics and economics. There she met her future husband, academic Michael Aris. After stints of living and working in Japan and Bhutan, she settled in the UK to raise their two children, Alexander and Kim, but Burma was never far from her thoughts. When she arrived back in Rangoon in 1988 - to look after her critically ill mother - Burma was in the midst of major political upheaval. Thousands of students, office workers and monks took to the streets demanding democratic reform. "I could not as my father's daughter remain indifferent to all that was going on," she said in a speech in Rangoon on 26 August 1988. Ms Suu Kyi was soon propelled into leading the revolt against the then-dictator, General Ne Win. Inspired by the non-violent campaigns of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King and India's Mahatma Gandhi, she organised rallies and travelled around the country, calling for peaceful democratic reform and free elections. But the demonstrations were brutally suppressed by the army, who seized power in a coup on 18 September 1988. The military government called national elections in May 1990. Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD convincingly won the polls, despite the fact that she herself was under house arrest and disqualified from standing. But the junta refused to hand over control, and has remained in power ever since. House arrest Ms Suu Kyi remained under house arrest in Rangoon for six years, until she was released in July 1995. Continue reading the main story Aung San Suu Kyi 1989: Put under house arrest as Burma junta declares martial law 1990: NLD wins election; military disregards result 1991: Wins Nobel Peace Prize 1995: Released from house arrest, but movements restricted 2000-02: Second period of house arrest May 2003: Detained after clash between NLD and junta forces Sep 2003: Allowed home after medical treatment, but under effective house arrest May 2007: House arrest is extended for another year Sept 2007: First public appearance since 2003, greeting protesting Buddhist monks May 2008: House arrest extended for another year May 2009: Charged with breaking detention rules after an American swims to her compound August 2009: Sentenced to 18 months further house arrest November 2010: Released from house arrest April 2012: Stands for parliament for first time She was again put under house arrest in September 2000, when she tried to travel to the city of Mandalay in defiance of travel restrictions. She was released unconditionally in May 2002, but just over a year later she was put in prison following a clash between her supporters and a government-backed mob. She was later allowed to return home - but again under effective house arrest. During periods of confinement, Ms Suu Kyi busied herself studying and exercising. She meditated, worked on her French and Japanese language skills, and relaxed by playing Bach on the piano. At times she was able to meet other NLD officials and selected diplomats. But during her early years of detention, she was often in solitary confinement. She was not allowed to see her two sons or her husband, who died of cancer in March 1999. The military authorities offered to allow her to travel to the UK to see him when he was gravely ill, but she felt compelled to refuse for fear she would not be allowed back into the country. Her last period of house arrest ended in November 2010 and her son Kim Aris was allowed to visit her for the first time in a decade. When by-elections were held in April 2012, to fill seats vacated by politicians who had taken government posts, she and her party contested seats, despite reservations. "Some are a little bit too optimistic about the situation," she said in an interview before the vote. "We are cautiously optimistic. We are at the beginning of a road." She and the NLD won 43 of the 45 seats contested, in an emphatic statement of support. Weeks later, Ms Suu Kyi took the oath in parliament and became the leader of the opposition. And in May, she embarked on a visit outside Burma for the first time in 24 years, in a sign of apparent confidence that Burma's new leaders would allow her to return.