Myanmar criticised for extension of Suu Kyi detention
Afp, Yangon
The United States, Britain, United Nations and the European Union have led international condemnation of Myanmar's decision to extend the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, calling for her immediate release. British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett voiced deep sadness Saturday at Myanmar's extension of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's detention and called for all political prisoners to be released. "It saddens me deeply to learn that the Burmese regime has extended her detention by yet another year," Beckett said in a statement. UN chief Ban Ki-moon Friday expressed regret over Myanmar's decision to extend the house arrest of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for another year despite worldwide apepals for her release. "The secretary general deeply regrets the decision," Ban's spokeswoman Michel Montas said in a statement. On Friday, the military rulers of the Southeast Asian country ordered that the Nobel peace laureate -- who has spent much of the past 17 years in detention -- be kept under house arrest for another year, police sources said. The decision came despite mounting calls for the junta to free the 61-year-old, whose National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but was never allowed to govern.
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