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Burma's Supreme Court Rejects Appeal of Democracy Leader

A Burmese national holds a portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi during a demonstration in front of the Burmese Embassy in Tokyo (2009 File)
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Burma's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal for the release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The court on Friday upheld an extended house arrest for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

One of her lawyer's, Nyan Win, says the court did not immediately give a reason for rejecting the appeal.

He says they will file one final special appeal in the coming month but he does not want to say if they are optimistic about getting the sentence overturned.

"We have the right, according to the law, we have the right to submit the appeal. So, we'll try to submit this appeal," he said.

Last August, Aung San Suu Kyi was given 18 months detention for briefly harboring an American man who swam to her lakeside home uninvited.

Two of her live-in assistants received similar sentences.

The sentence was condemned internationally as a sham designed by Burma's military government to keep the opposition leader locked up during elections later this year.

The military government has not yet set a date for the elections and has altered the constitution so the military is guaranteed a quarter of parliamentary seats.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been kept in jail or under house arrest for most of the last two decades.

Her National League for Democracy won Burma's last elections in 1990 by a landslide, but Burma's military refused to give up power.

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