US Secretary of State Clinton urges immediate release of Suu Kyi

John William Yethaw//EPA

 Suu Kyi was taken from house arrest to a prison in Rangoon to hear charges related to an unauthorized visit by a US citizen to her home. Clinton said that the charges were a pretext for keeping Suu Kyi locked up once her current term ends this month.

 "I am deeply troubled by the Burmese government's decision to charge Aung San Suu Kyi for a baseless crime," Clinton said. Myanmar was formerly known as Burma.

 Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for six years for leading the opposition movement against Burma's ruling military junta. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner could face an additional three to five years in prison if convicted.

 The US citizen, identified as John William Yethaw, apparently swam in a lake to reach Suu Kyi's home.

 The United States has expressed concern about the health of Suu Kyi, 63, who heads the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which won the 1990 election but has been denied power by the junta.

 She was scheduled to be released May 27.

Suu Kyi was charged Thursday with allowing an unauthorized US national to visit her Rangoon. She was brought to Rangoon's Insein Prison to hear charges against herself, her two maids and her doctor for allowing an unauthorized visit from Yethaw.

 The trial was scheduled to begin Monday, Suu Kyi's attorney Kyi Win said.

 The Nobel laureate was taken from her family compound Thursday and kept at Insein Prison after the hearing.

 If found guilty, Suu Kyi could face a sentence of three to five years in jail for allowing the unauthorized visit, he said.

 The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which Suu Kyi leads, immediately criticised the trial.

 "Daw (Mrs) Aung San Suu Kyi, who was nearly due to finish her house arrest term, has been placed in a bungalow house in Insein Prison under Section 22 of Safeguarding the State although she has not admitted to any crime," the NLD said in a statement.

 "This is the cunning plan of the regime to put Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in continuous detention beyond the six years allowed by the law they used to justify (her) detention," said Aung Din, executive director of the US Campaign for Burma.

 Suu Kyi, known to be in poor health, has been kept in near- isolation for the past six years with only weekly visits by her doctors allowed and occasional visits by United Nations special envoys.

 Suu Kyi, the only Nobel Peace Prize laureate currently under detention, was interrogated last week about Yethaw's visit after the 53-year-old was arrested May 6 while swimming away from Suu Kyi's house.

 She reportedly told authorities that she deemed the visit "illegal" and "unacceptable" and had kept Yethaw downstairs in her home-cum-jail for his entire stay, sources said.

 In New York, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Ban called for Suu Kyi's release and called her "an essential partner" for dialogue in Myanmar's national reconciliation process. He called on the junta "not to take any further action that could undermine this important process."

"As he has said repeatedly, the secretary general believes strongly that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all those who have a contribution to make to the future of their country must be free to be able to do so to ensure that the political process is credible," a spokesperson quoted Ban as saying.

 The United Nations special expert for human rights in Myanmar (Burma) also called for the "unconditional release" of Suu Kyi.

 Tomas Ojea Quintana, the special rapporteur, said the detention of Suu Kyi was unlawful, both according to international law and Burma's own domestic legislation.

 The UN expert said the opposition leader could not be blamed for the intrusion into her home.

 "Since her house is well guarded by security forces, the responsibility for preventing such intrusions, and alerting the authorities, lies with the security forces and not with Aung San Suu Kyi and her aides," Ojea Quintana said.

 He also said that "all 2,156 prisoners of conscience currently detained by the authorities should be released before the 2010 elections." 

Other governments including Germany and Norway condemned Suu Kyi's detention.

The Foreign Ministry in Berlin said it was "very deeply concerned about her situation and health." A spokesman, Jens Ploetner, said the Myanmar government should drop the charges and end her state of house arrest.