Myanmar faced intense international pressure Friday to free pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi after she was imprisoned ahead of a new trial next week for breaching the terms of her house arrest.
The United States led Western calls for the immediate release of the Nobel Peace laureate while rights groups urged the UN Security Council to help the 63-year-old, whose trial is due to start in jail on Monday.
The ruling military junta took Aung San Suu Kyi from her home on Thursday to Yangon's notorious Insein prison, where she was charged over a bizarre incident in which an American man swam to her lakeside residence.
There was no comment from Myanmar's secretive regime, which has kept the frail opposition leader in detention for most of the last 19 years and now looks set to do so past controversial elections that are due next year.
New York-based Human Rights Watch called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to press the authorities for her release, accusing the junta of taking advantage of the US man's "bizarre stunt" to keep Aung San Suu Kyi detained.
Amnesty International demanded that the UN Security Council "urgently intervene" to secure her release. It urged Myanmar's powerful neighbours, China and India -- who have not reacted -- to press the country's ruling generals.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was "deeply troubled" by the "baseless" case laid against Aung San Suu Kyi just days before her latest six-year detention was to have expired.
Regime under pressure to free Aung San Suu Kyi
Britain, France and other Western nations -- which like the United States have imposed sanctions on the country formerly known as Burma -- condemned the decision and said it did not bode well for the 2010 elections.
A group of eminent statesmen including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former US President Jimmy Carter also demanded her release.
Indonesia and Singapore, both members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to which Myanmar also belongs, called for the junta to release Aung San Suu Kyi and drop the "arbitrary" new charges against her.
Thailand said it "hoped" that she would be freed, while there was no immediate reaction from the rest of the 10-nation bloc.
*****************BURMA DEMOCRACY ICON HELD IN NOTORIOUS PRISON*************************
Myanmar's jailed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi insists she is not guilty of violating her house arrest, her lawyer said Friday, as a clearer picture emerged of the American who swam to her home and kicked off the junta's latest crackdown.
Ahead of Suu Kyi's trial Monday, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate spent the night at the country's notorious Insein Prison where she is being held in a "guest house" within the compound during her trial proceedings, said her lawyer Kyi Win.
Worldwide condemnation has poured in since Suu Kyi was charged Thursday with breaking the terms of her yearslong detention, just two weeks before she was due to be released. Her trial was scheduled to be held at a special court at the prison, which has held numerous political prisoners over the years.
World leaders, human rights groups and fellow Nobel laureates denounced the move as an attempt by the military junta to silence its chief opponent ahead of next year's election — which will be the first since Suu Kyi's party won elections in 1990 that the junta refused to recognize.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the charges and called for Suu Kyi's immediate release.
*************DEMOCRACY LEADER OF BURMA IS FACING TRAIL AFTER AMERICAN'S SWIM*********
The southeast Asian country's military junta rarely allows visitors to see Suu Kyi, and foreigners are not allowed overnight stays in local households.
The government said the presence of the American, John William Yettaw, in the lakeside home violated the conditions of Suu Kyi's house arrest.
Yettaw, was charged Thursday on two criminal counts -- entering the country illegally and staying at a resident's home without government permission, according to a spokesman for Suu Kyi's political party.
Both charges carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Suu Kyi on Thursday was taken to a prison compound near Yangon , where authorities set up a special room for her until the trial, said Nyan Win, spokesman for her National League for Democracy party.
The government detained her at the Insean Prison compound under Section 22 of the country's legal code, a law against subversion of government, Nyan Win said.
If convicted, Suu Kyi could face three to five years in prison.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for the immediate release of Suu Kyi on Thursday.
"I am deeply troubled by the Burmese government's decision to charge Aung San Suu Kyi for a baseless crime," Clinton said at the State Department in Washington, referring to Myanmar by its former name of Burma.
"We oppose the regime's efforts to use this incident as a pretext to place further unjustified restrictions on her. We call on the Burmese authorities to release her immediately and unconditionally, along with her doctor and the more than 2,100 political prisoners currently being held."
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