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Nobel Peace Laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to eighteen months of house arrest yesterday following trial in Burma. Faced with the possibility of five years in prison, she was convicted of violating the terms of her then house arrest following a two day stay by a man from the United States who swam to her home uninvited. Suu Kyi, who is 64 years of age, was originally sentenced to three years of prison with hard labor when an order from the chief of the Burmese military junta Than Shwe was read aloud to the courtroom commuting the sentence. If the regime had hoped the gesture would be interpreted as one of leniency, the international community by in large has not responded in kind. The office of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded that the ruling junta “immediately and unconditionally release” the pro-democracy leader. Fourteen of Suu Kyi’s fellow laureates including Desmond Tutu and Mikhail Gorbachev urged the U.N. Security Council to take action on her behalf. President Barack Obama labeled the sentencing as an “unjust decision.” The extension of Suu Kyi’s house arrest will mean that she will not be release when the military junta holds elections in the country next year.

GUEST: T. Kumar, Amnesty International USA’s Asia & Pacific Advocacy Director