Myanmar jails Suu Kyi supporters for pagoda prayers
Posted: 21 June 2009 1600 hrs

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YANGON : Myanmar has jailed two supporters of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for one and a half years for insulting religion after they prayed at a pagoda for her release, her party said on Sunday.

Chit Pe and Aung Saw Wai, members of the detained Nobel laureate's National League for Democracy (NLD) party, were each sentenced last week, according to
lawyer and NLD spokesman Nyan Win.

"They were sentenced... under the act of insulting religion," Nyan Win said.

The pair were arrested at their homes in April after they led a religious ceremony at a pagoda in Twante, about 40 kilometres (30 miles) west of Yangon, at which they offered prayers for their leader's freedom.

In a separate case, three youth members of the NLD were arrested 10 days ago and are being held in custody, Nyan Win said.

"We do not know the details about their arrest but they were detained on remand under the Explosives Act," Nyan Win said.

Myanmar's military regime has kept Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for 13 of the past 19 years, after refusing to recognise the NLD's landslide victory in the country's last elections in 1990.

The pro-democracy icon is currently being held in Yangon's notorious Insein prison on charges of breaching her house arrest rules in May, when an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside residence.

Her supporters in the predominantly Buddhist country have traditionally prayed at pagodas for her freedom and for the release of the country's other political prisoners.

Myanmar authorities have frequently enforced the law against insulting religion - which carries a penalty of up to two years in prison - since Buddhist monks led protests against the military government in September 2007.

Aung San Suu Kyi turned 64 on Friday and supporters worldwide marked the day with calls for her release - from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to US actors Julia Roberts and George Clooney.

Myanmar's top court will on Wednesday hear an appeal by her legal team to overturn a ban on two defence witnesses in the trial.

"We are preparing our arguments for the Supreme Court," Nyan Win said.

The main trial, at Insein prison, is set to resume on Friday. - AFP/ms