Junta bars Suu Kyi's lawyer

MYANMAR'S JUNTA has barred a prominent activist lawyer from defending opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as pressure intensifies on the regime to drop new charges against the Nobel Peace laureate.

Aung Thein said the order revoking his licence was issued yesterday, a day after a prison court charged Suu Kyi with breaking the conditions of her nearly six-year house arrest, scheduled to expire on May 27.

"I went to Insein Prison to be one of the five defence lawyers for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and they issued the order the next day," Aung Thein said.

Critics of the regime have denounced the trial of Suu Kyi and two female companions, due to start tomorrow, on charges stemming from the mysterious visit of an American intruder who was arrested after he claimed to have spent two days at her lakeside home in Yangon.

Suu Kyi, 63, faces up to five years in jail if convicted.

Her lawyers insist she is innocent and did not invite US citizen John Yettaw who, according to state media, swam to her tightly guarded lakeside home using homemade flippers.

Yettaw's motives remain unclear, but he has been charged with various offences, including encouraging others to break the law and "illegal swimming".

The military, which has ruled the former Burma since 1962, has ignored the international outcry over its latest crackdown on Suu Kyi, who has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years in detention.