Obama urges Myanmar to free Aung San Suu Kyi

Barack Obama has urged the leader of Myanmar’s military government to free pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi.

The US president raised the issue directly with General Thein Sein, according to the White House. Their meeting took place behind closed doors on the fringes of the APEC summit. They were joined by leaders of the nine other members of the Association of South East Asian Nations, or ASEAN. Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention and her house arrest was extended in August. It means she will not be able to play any active part in Myanmar’s elections next year. Her party won the country’s last election in 1990 but the military junta disregarded the result.

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