Myanmar extends Suu Kyi detention

YANGON, Myanmar, May 27 (UPI) -- The ruling military junta in Myanmar Tuesday moved to extend the detention of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi by another six months, a newspaper editor said.

Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 and is the leader of the National League for Democracy. The military junta arrested her under martial law in 1989 and she has spent 12 of the past 18 years under house arrest.

Sein Win, who serves as the managing editor of the Myanmarese publication Mizzima based in Thailand, told CNN Tuesday the military junta decided to extend Suu Kyi's detention.

Officials also arrested about 20 members of the National League for Democracy who had marched to Suu Kyi's home in Yangon -- the former Rangoon -- ahead of the decision, Win said.

Suu Kyi won enough votes to become prime minister of Myanmar, then known as Burma, in a 1990 general election, though her detention prevented her from serving that role.