Court rejects Suu Kyi’s plea for freedom

The Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has failed in her latest bid to end more than a decade of house arrest after the country's highest court threw out an appeal against her sentence on Friday.

The supreme court's decision was widely expected but her lawyer said he would launch a final special appeal to the supreme court after establishing the reasons why the latest attempt had been rejected. "The court order did not mention any reasons," he said. The British ambassador Andrew Heyn attended the court session along with diplomats from Australia, France and the US.

"Although the decision comes as no surprise, it is deeply disappointing," he said. "We continue to believe that (Aung San Suu Kyi) should be released immediately, along with the other 2,000 and more prisoners of conscience". The French ambassador Jean-Pierre Lafosse said the 64-year-old democracy icon was "the victim of a sham trial".

Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyers appealed to the court last November, a month after a lower court upheld a decision to sentence her to 18 months of house arrest. She was initially sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour in a trial that drew global condemnation, but the sentence was immediately commuted to 18 months of house arrest by junta chief Senior General Than Shwe.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained for 14 years. Her National League for Democracy won elections in 1990 by a landslide, but the military, which has ruled Burma since 1962, refused to cede power. The junta has announced it would hold elections some time this year under a constitution that would allow the military to maintain substantial power. Aung San Suu Kyi's party has not announced whether it will contest the elections.

The court ruling also denied freedom to two female companions who share Suu Kyi's house arrest. Aung Din, executive director of the US Campaign for Burma lobby group condemned the Burmese judiciary system as "part of the regime's oppressive mechanism".

- Asian Tribune -