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A supporter of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi lights candles on a cake to celebrate her birthday in Kuala Lumpur - Source: Reuters -
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Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi spent her 64th
birthday in detention as supporters worldwide condemned her trial
and called for tougher sanctions against the military regime.
Nyan Win, a lawyer defending the Nobel laureate who faces up to
five years in jail, said Suu Kyi would be allowed a few visitors to
Yangon's Insein prison, where she is on trial over charges she
broke the terms of her house arrest.
"I'm going to send her some birthday presents and food so she can
celebrate with a few guests," he said.
Confined for nearly 14 of the past 20 years, Suu Kyi's birthday has
become an annual ritual inside and outside Myanmar for campaigners
seeking an end to decades of military rule that has left the
country an impoverished international pariah.
But the day has taken on added significance this year amid
international outrage at her trial, which is widely expected to end
with a guilty verdict.
Protests are planned outside Myanmar embassies in major capitals
around the world.
An online campaign,
www.64forsuu.org, drew thousands
of messages of support, including good wishes from world leaders
and celebrities.
"Aung San Suu Kyi is an inspiration to her country and the rest of the world," wrote former Beatle Paul McCartney.
"I truly admire her infallible resolve and her determination to
stand up for what she believes in."
Ridiculous trial
Suu Kyi is accused of breaking the terms of her house arrest by
allowing an American intruder, John Yettaw, to stay for two days
after he swam to her Yangon home in early May.
She says the trial, set to resume on June 26, is politically
motivated to exclude her from next year's elections.
Critics call the polls a sham to entrench nearly half a century
of military rule in the former Burma.
In London, British Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis said Suu Kyi
was being tried on ridiculous and bogus trumped-up charges.
He said the European Union would consider further sanctions
against the junta after the trial ended.
"We (Britain) continue to believe that further targeted financial
sanctions would increase pressure on the regime," he told
reporters.
In Yangon, members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD)
will gather at the party's dilapidated headquarters to release
doves and call for the release of more than 2,000 political
prisoners and a meaningful transition to democracy.
As in past years, they will probably be ignored as the regime
presses ahead with its "roadmap to democracy" and silences dissent
in the run-up to the 2010 polls.
Scores of activists and dissidents have been convicted by the
courts, which have a history of bending laws to suit the
generals.
Myanmar's High Court agreed this week to hear arguments from Suu
Kyi's lawyers to reinstate two banned defence witnesses.
Even if the ban is overturned, it's unlikely to have any
impact.
Britain's ambassador to Myanmar, Mark Canning, speaking to
reporters in London by video link from Yangon, said there was no
doubt Suu Kyi would be found guilty.
But she would probably be sentenced to a further period of house arrest, rather than jail.
