Party Concerned About Aung San Suu Kyi's Health

The party of Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has expressed concern about her health while she is in prison facing charges that she violated the terms of her house arrest.

A spokesman for the National League for Democracy, Nyan Win, told VOA Burmese Service that Aung San Suu Kyi is suffering from severe leg cramps, which keep her awake at night.

Burma's military government said last week that she receives good medical care in prison.

Nyan Win also said the court has postponed final arguments in Aung San Suu Kyi's trial from next Monday to next Friday. He said no reasons were given for the delay.

The trial stems from a visit by an intruder who swam to her lakeside home in early May and stayed overnight.

The American intruder, John Yettaw, is also on trial. He told the court he had dreamt that the 63-year-old Nobel Prize laureate would be assassinated and that he came to warn her.

If convicted, Aung San Suu Kyi could be sentenced to a prison term of up to five years. She has spent 13 of the past 19 years under house arrest.

The sole defense witness in the internationally criticized trial argued in court Thursday that it was the job of government guards outside her home to keep intruders out. Aung San Suu Kyi said she gave Yettaw overnight shelter because he pleaded exhaustion.

Burma's military government lashed out Thursday at foreign critics of the trial. Burma's deputy foreign minister, Maung Myint, said during a Europe-Asia summit in Cambodia that the trial is an internal legal issue, not linked to either politcs or human rights.

The international community has has condemned the trial as a pretext to extend the opposition leader's house arrest and bar her from elections next year.


Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.