Myanmar's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi turns 64 in prison

Yangon - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi celebrated her 64th birthday Friday in Yangon's Insein prison where she is being held to stand trial for allegedly breaking her terms of detention. About 300 members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party, which she leads, released doves outside the party's headquarters in Yangon, wishing for her quick release. Mostly wearing yellow many also shouted; 'Free Daw (Mrs) Aung San Suu Kyi.' Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar independence hero Aung San, has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest in Yangon. Her latest stint of detention ended May 27, after she was moved to Insein prison to stand trial. If found guilty of allowing US national John William Yettaw to swim to her home on May 3 and stay there till the night of May 5, she faces another three to five years in jail. NLD executive committee member Hla Pe on Friday blasted the ruling junta for its latest legal move against Suu Kyi. 'The military Junta has been attacking the NLD by closing its offices, stopping its organizational activities, arresting and sentencing its leaders and persecuting its members,' he said. 'The junta was preparing the trial while she was still under house arrest,' he added. Many believe the regime deliberately allowed Yettaw to swim to Suu Kyi's well-guarded residence, to provide an excuse to keep her in prison while the junta pushes through a general election next year. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi was held under house arrest for six years before being transferred to Insein prison on May 9 to stand trial for breaking the terms of that detention. The court case against Suu Kyi is scheduled to resume on June 26 to hear the testimony of defence witness Khin Moh Moh. Yettaw, a Mormon who claims to have wanted to warn Suu Kyi of an assassination attempt he had dreamt of, faces several charges, including immigration violations for visiting a prisoner while on a tourist visa and local laws for swimming illegally in Inya Lake. The junta's critics have accused it of using the case as a pretext to keep Suu Kyi in jail during a politically sensitive period leading up to a general election planned for next year. Myanmar's judiciary has little independence from the country's ruling military junta, observers note. The country has been under military rule since 1962. The NLD won the 1990 general election by a landslide but has been blocked from power by Myanmar's junta for the past 19 years.