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PARIS : The head of Myanmar's self-proclaimed government-in-exile, Sein Win, said on Wednesday that democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has been transferred from house arrest to a prison cell.
Asked about rumours the Nobel Peace prize winner had been imprisoned amid mass protests led by Buddhist monks against Myanmar's ruling military, he told AFP: "We have this information from two sources.
"Up until now it was not certain because we only had one source, but now we have it from another independent source."
Sein Win is the prime minister of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) and a first cousin of Suu Kyi.
"She has been at the Insein prison (north of Yangon) since Sunday, when the monks marched in front of her house," he said.
A Western diplomat contacted by AFP in Yangon said he had no confirmation that Suu Kyi, under house arrest since 2003, had been moved to jail.
"We have more of a denial," he said, adding that "everything suggests" she was still at her residence.
A Myanmar police source on Tuesday also denied Suu Kyi had been transferred to jail.
Sein Win and other opposition leaders were to meet later with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the situation in his home country.
Up to 100,000 people defied heavy security to take to the streets of Myanmar's main city Yangon on Wednesday, where security forces used batons, tear gas and live rounds to crack down on protests, killing at least four people.
Sein Win was among those who secured parliamentary seats in 1990 elections won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), which the ruling military refused to recognise. The NCGUB government in exile has also been outlawed by the ruling military. - AFP/de
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