UN rights chief welcomes release of Suu Kyi

GENEVA - The UN’s top human rights official welcomed Saturday the release of democracy figure Aung San Suu Kyi, but also urged Myanmar’s ruling military junta to release all political prisoners.

“It is important that her release is unconditional, and that this is honoured in practice,” said Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, adding that some 2,200 political prisoners still remain locked up.

Pillay also criticized the government for not releasing Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, prior to last week’s election, which has been widely condemned as a sham poll by Western officials.

“Her long detention and deprivation of rights remain a serious violation of human rights on the part of the government of Myanmar,” the rights chief noted in a statement.

Suu Kyi was serving an 18-month house arrest handed down by a criminal court for breaking the terms of her previous incarceration by allowing an uninvited US national to swim to her lakeside home. The sentence expired Saturday.