Concern for health of Aung San Suu Kyi အေမစု က်န္းမာေရးမေကာင္း

30 May 2009 Today news

YANGON (AFP) - The party of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Friday it was "very concerned" for the health of the Nobel Laureate, who has been detained in a notorious prison while facing trial.

The 63-year-old had suffered a series of health scares in recent months before she was charged with breaching her house arrest in early May over an incident in which an American man swam to her lakeside home.

"We are very much concerned for her health situation. Because of frequent leg cramps at night she has to walk around," Nyan Win, a spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD), told AFP.

"The chief of the (prison) medical team is also trying to find out the reason. Aung San Suu Kyi has said that the chief of the medical team is taking care of her," he added.

Myanmar's state-controlled media reported last week that medical specialists had visited her at Yangon's Insein Prison and she was receiving daily health care at the jail.

Nyan Win also said that final arguments in the internationally condemned trial had been pushed back from Monday until Friday next week. Aung San Suu Kyi faces five years if convicted.

"The court informed her main lawyer Kyi Win this evening about the postponement of the final arguments until June 5. We don't know the reason," Nyan Win said.

He said that he would go to Insein Prison on Saturday to meet Aung San Suu Kyi after her legal team applied to the court to be able to consult with her.

"We hope we will be allowed to see her," he said.

Myanmar's military junta has kept Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for 13 of the last 19 years, most of them in virtual isolation at her tightly guarded home by Yangon's Inya Lake.

She was twice placed on an intravenous drip at her house earlier this month because she could not eat, had low blood pressure and was dehydrated. Doctors also administered a drip last year.

In November 2006, Aung San Suu Kyi had an ultrasound, which is used to screen for a variety of ailments including heart and gynaecological problems, but was given a clean bill of health by her personal physician.

The Myanmar junta's case against her has drawn fierce international condemnation, with US President Barack Obama describing it as a "show trial".

Myanmar hit back at a conference of Southeast Asian and European leaders in Cambodia on Thursday, rejecting foreign "pressure and interference" and insisting that the trial was not political or a matter of human rights.

An international media rights group urged Myanmar Friday to lift the restrictions on coverage of Aung San Suu Kyi's trial, which has been held behind closed doors for all but two days since it started on May 18.

Diplomats and local reporters for Myanmar and foreign news organisation were allowed into the trial on May 20 and 26 only.

"Burmese journalists are or are not allowed into the trial at the military?s whim while foreign journalists are carefully kept away," said Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), referring to the country by its former name.

"Even with this limited access, the Burmese public is not being properly informed as the military?s prior censorship prevents any independent coverage. The lack of transparency makes a fair verdict even more unlikely," it added.

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