Doctor visits Myanmar's ailing Aung San Suu Kyi

Bangulzai

11 May 09, 20:11

Myanmar's military rulers allowed a doctor to make a follow-up visit to detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday after she was found last week to be suffering from dehydration and low blood pressure.

Officials from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party said Dr. Pyone Moe Ei was granted a medical visit to her lakeside home Monday afternoon. They issued an appeal for her to be allowed further treatment for her condition, which was not disclosed.

Suu Kyi's main doctor, Tin Myo Win, was detained for questioning by the authorities last Thursday after an American man was arrested for allegedly sneaking into her closely guarded home early last week.

State-run media said the American confessed that he swam 1 1/4 miles (2 kilometers) across Inya Lake to Suu Kyi's compound and "secretly entered the house," where he stayed for two days. He was arrested when authorities spotted him swimming back.

Pyone Moe Ei was allowed to see Suu Kyi on Friday and put her on an intravenous drip, but a request for a follow-up visit on Saturday was not granted. She is rarely allowed to leave her compound and her visitors are severely restricted because she is under house arrest.

"We heard that the doctor is allowed to see Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (on Monday). We welcome the doctor's visit and we are happy that Daw Suu is given medical treatment," said Nyan Win, a spokesman for her party. "Daw" is a term of respect used for older women in Myanmar.

Nyan Win last week said Pyone Moe Ei reported that Suu Kyi had not eaten for three or four days.

Asked about Tin Myo Win, the spokesman said, "We still haven't heard anything about the doctor since Thursday and we are very much concerned."

The military government, following standard practice, has not commented on the doctor's detention.

Suu Kyi _ who has spent more than 13 of the last 19 years, including the past six, in detention without trial _ is allowed virtually no visitors aside from her doctor.

11-05-2009 - 07:39

Bangulzai

18 May 09, 00:54

Key events in life of Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi

Despite being the daughter of Myanmar's independence hero, Gen. Aung San, who was assassinated when she was 2 years old, Aung San Suu Kyi fell into politics almost by accident:

_ Born in Yangon, formerly Rangoon, on June 19, 1945.

_ Earned degrees in philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University in England. Married British academic Michael Aris in 1972 and has two children who live in Britain.

_ Rushed back to Burma, later renamed Myanmar, in 1988 to care for her ailing mother. Her trip coincided with mass demonstrations against the military government that left thousands dead. She turned into a rallying figure and helped found the National League for Democracy party.

_ Arrested in 1989 on charges of inciting unrest and kept under house arrest for the next six years.

_ Barred from running in elections called by the junta in May 1990. Her party won 392 of the 495 seats in parliament, but the military refused to honor the results, and she became the symbol of Myanmar's suppressed democracy.

_ Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

_ Released from prison in 1995 but generals continued to arrest her supporters and prevent her from traveling outside the capital.

_ Her husband, who had cancer, was refused permission to visit her before he died in 1999.

_ Put under house arrest again in 2000, released unconditionally in 2002 and rearrested in May 2003. Her current detention ends May 27.

Bangulzai

20 May 09, 20:05

Myanmar junta allows glimpse of Suu Kyi trial

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - Army-ruled Myanmar opened the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday in an apparent bid to calm growing international outrage at the regime and its latest crackdown on the Nobel Peace laureate.

Suu Kyi appeared healthy and confident during the 45-minute hearing watched by some 30 diplomats and a handful of Burmese journalists on the third day of her trial inside Yangon's notorious Insein Central Prison.

The 63-year-old, known affectionately as "The Lady" by her supporters, faces up to five years in jail if found guilty of breaking the terms of her latest house arrest.

"Thank you very much for coming and for your support," Suu Kyi, dressed in a pink blouse and maroon-coloured tied skirt, known as a longhi, told the diplomats after the hearing.

"I hope to meet you in better days," she said, smiling, before female police officers escorted her out of the court.

She was to meet privately with diplomats from Russia, Thailand and Singapore at her prison guest house later. It was not clear if the trial would be open on Thursday.

The case against Suu Kyi, accused of violating her house arrest after an uninvited American intruder swam to her lakeside home two weeks ago, has outraged the West and triggered threats of new sanctions against the regime.

Even Myanmar's usually acquiescent neighbours have issued a rare rebuke to the generals.

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), setting aside its mantra of non-interference, said the trial had put the "honour and credibility" of its troublesome member at stake.

However, Wednesday's gesture of transparency is unlikely to dampen condemnation of a trial based on what many see as trumped-up charges to keep the charismatic Suu Kyi in detention through elections in 2010.

Mark Canning, Britain's ambassador to Myanmar, said he saw little evidence that Suu Kyi was receiving a fair trial.

"All the paraphernalia of the court room is there," he told BBC television. "The judges, the prosecution, the defence. That's all there, but I think this is a story where the conclusion is already scripted."

One Asian diplomat said: "They seem to want to improve the image of the trial by allowing us to be there."

AMERICAN INTRUDER

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide election victory in 1990, only to be denied power by the military, which has ruled the country for more than four decades.

She has been detained for more than 13 of the past 19 years, most of them at her home in Yangon, guarded by police, her mail intercepted and visitors restricted.

Her latest house arrest will end on May 27 after six years, fuelling allegations that the regime is using the American intruder as a pretext to keep Suu Kyi in detention.

Despite the tight security at her home, authorities say John Yettaw, a 53-year-old American, sneaked inside on May 3 after using homemade flippers to swim across Inya Lake.

Suu Kyi and two female assistants who live in the house were charged last Thursday with breaking a law protecting the state from "those desiring to cause subversive acts."

They have denied any wrongdoing.

Yettaw, dressed in a white shirt and khaki trousers, appeared nervous during Wednesday's hearing, which heard testimony from a police officer. He did not speak to the diplomats.

He is charged with immigration violations, trespassing into a restricted area and violating the same draconian security law.

Nyan Win, an NLD official and member of Suu Kyi's defence team, said on Tuesday the regime was rushing through the list of 22 prosecution witnesses and may wrap up the trial next week.

(Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Alan Raybould and Paul Tait)

20-05-2009 - 05:46