Suu Kyi gets 18 months’ house arrest

The Burmese authorities were bracing themselves for demonstrations this morning when Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to an additional 18 months' house arrest. The pro-democracy leader was convicted of breaking the terms of her previous house arrest for "allowing" an eccentric American, John Yettaw, to break into her compound in May this year.

When the charge was first read out in court this morning, it was announced that she would be jailed for three years with hard labour. But after a short recess, Burma's home minister arrived with a special order from the leader of the country's military junta, Gen Than Shwe, commuting the sentence to 18 months' house arrest.

Witnesses said more than 2,000 security personnel were posted around Insein prison in Rangoon where the verdict was given. State media had warned her supporters not to cause trouble.

Suu Kyi, who has spent 14 of the past 20 years either in jail or under house arrest, had told her supporters that she expected to be found guilty of breaching the terms of her detention - even though it was no fault of hers that Yettaw took it upon himself to swim across the lake on which her house is situated and then broke in.

According to most observers, the new period of detention means the junta will have achieved its aim - to keep her out of circulation during the run-up to next year's general election. The previous six-year period of detention was about to come to an end when Yettaw paid his fateful visit.

Suu Kyi's trial went ahead despite international condemnation, including a statement issued on her 64th birthday in June by Gordon Brown. He said it was a tragedy that she was having to spend her birthday behind bars because of the junta's "absurd and contemptible show trial".

Yettaw, a 54-year-old Mormon from Missouri, was sentenced to seven years' hard labour - three years for abetting Suu Kyi's violation of her house arrest, three years for immigration offences and one year for swimming in an unauthorised area. Observers believe he can expect to be released and deported after a few months.