Clinton Urges Myanmar To Free Nobel Laureate

11.12.09 | FL News Team

The United States is calling on Myanmar's military junta to grant the unconditional release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi [[ Awn San SOO Chee ]]. The Nobel laureate has spent most of the past 20 years under some form of detention. A Myanmar court tacked on an additional 18 months earlier this year after Suu Kyi was convicted of violating her house arrest in a bizarre incident involving an American who came to her home uninvited. During a news conference in the Philippine capital of Manila today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Suu Kyi's sentence "baseless." She said the pro-democracy icon's long detention is, quote, "not founded on any concern other than she is the leader of the political opposition." Clinton added that next year's elections in Myanmar will only be legitimate if the opposition is allowed to participate.