Congressional Medal for Burmese Democracy Hero

A well deserved honor is coming for Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition leader under house arrest who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991: the Congressional Gold Medal. The U.S. Senate approved the honor, passed by the House in December, on Thursday. More from Al-Jazeera:

"The US-based Campaign for Burma welcomed the award, saying Aung San Suu Kyi appears to be the first person given the medal while incarcerated.

'The Burmese military generals have tried to isolate Aung San Suu Kyi from her own people and from the international community by keeping her under house arrest for over 12 years,' said Aung Din, co-founder of the group.

'She richly deserves this award and the Burmese people are so proud that one of our own has been honoured in this way.'

It is not yet clear when or how the medal will be awarded."

The award is also likely to further rankle China in an Olympic year when they've already had plenty to get mad about. China has propped up the junta in Myanmar aka Burma, and used its veto-wielding position at the U.N. Security Council to block action to intervene in the junta's bloody crackdown on the Burmese people last fall.

(Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)