LONDON, June 19: Myanmar’s democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi is being held “in a two-room hut” at a jail near Yangon, Britain’s junior foreign minister for Asia said on Thursday.

“I am appalled to learn today, on her 58th birthday, Aung San Suu Kyi is being held in the notorious Insein jail on the outskirts of Rangoon (Yangon) in a two-room hut,” said Mike O’Brien in a statement.

“I understand that she continues to wear the clothes in which she was arrested,” he said.

Aung San Suu Kyi was taken into “protective custody” after May 30 clashes which broke out during a political tour of northern Myanmar, when her supporters were attacked by hundreds of members of a pro-junta organization.

The ruling generals cracked down on her opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) and put its leadership under house arrest. An unknown number of NLD supporters have also been thrown in jail.

O’Brien said: “I have the telephone number of the jail, and am attempting to contact Aung San Suu Kyi. It is totally unacceptable that she should be detained in this manner.”

He said he was “particularly disturbed” to hear that Aung San Suu Kyi — winner of a Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle for a democratic Myanmar — was being held under Section 10(a) of the 1975 State Protection Law.

“This is the most draconian of the Burmese (Myanmar) military regime’s laws, which allows for detention without access to family or lawyers for 180 days at a time up to a total of five years, with no prospect of appeal,” he said.

“This completely discredits the regime’s claim that she is being held in ‘protective custody’,” he said.—AFP