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The detained Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Photograph: Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/EPA
The detained Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Photograph: Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/EPA
The detained Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Photograph: Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/EPA

Burmese junta extends Aung San Suu Kyi detention

This article is more than 15 years old

Burma's junta today extended the house arrest of the country's democratically elected opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, dashing hopes she might be freed after five years of detention.

A delegation from the military regime's interior ministry visited the Nobel peace laureate this afternoon at her home in Rangoon, where she has been held since May 2003.

As the group left after the 10-minute meeting, government officials told reporters that Suu Kyi had been told her house arrest order had been extended for another 12-month period.
The 62-year-old, whose National League for Democracy (NLD) overwhelmingly won a 1990 general election that was then ignored by the junta, has been detained in her home without trial for 12 of the past 18 years, and continuously since May 2003.

The house arrest order, which is renewed annually, had been due to expire at midnight tonight (6.30pm BST), according to the NLD.

Lawyers representing the opposition leader's family argued that Burmese law states no one can be held for more than five years without being put on trial or released.

The junta's decision to extend the house arrest "in clear violation of its own law" was little surprise", said Jared Genser, an American lawyer hired by Suu Kyi's family.

"Adherence to the rule of law is not their forte and the junta remains deeply concerned about her appeal to the Burmese people."

The British foreign secretary, David Milliband, said he was "was saddened, if not surprised" by the decision.

While the military, which has ruled Burma since 1962, gave no sign that it planned to release Suu Kyi, there had been hopes the current international scrutiny of the country and its rulers following the devastation of Cyclone Nargis might push the junta into a concession.

However, the regime stepped up security around Suu Kyi's home and then arrested about 20 NLD members who tried to demonstrate near the house on the 18th anniversary of the party's election victory.

The activists were pushed into a truck by riot police as they attempted to march from the party headquarters.

The junta faces pressure because of the focus on Burma since the cyclone killed more than 130,000 people at the beginning of this month.

The regime has been heavily criticised for its reluctance to allow foreign assistance into the country for the estimated 2.4 million people left destitute by the cyclone. More than half of these are believed to be living without clean water, shelter or adequate food.

Despite the disaster, earlier this month the junta went ahead with its own referendum on what it calls a "roadmap to democracy", dismissed by opponents as a sham which only tightens the military's grip on power. According to the government, even amid the chaos following Nargis, the plan was endorsed by 92% of voters, with a 98% turnout.

The regime's brutality was highlighted last year when troops violently crushed anti-junta protests led by Buddhist monks, sparked by high food and fuel prices.
Even Burma's south-east Asian neighbours, which generally temper their criticism of the regime, have begun to push the junta for action.

Indonesia's foreign minister, Hassan Wirayuda, called today for Suu Kyi's release, saying it would be a way of thanking the international community for its generosity after the cyclone.

"I hope for the best but, to be frank, I'm not optimistic," he said.

At the weekend, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said he hoped Burma had reached "a turning point" in getting help to its cyclone survivors after an international aid conference in Rangoon.

The junta has allowed foreign aid workers to enter the most devastated areas of the country, although it continues to place restrictions on their movement.

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