Burma's Supreme Court has heard a final appeal against the extended house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Her sentence was extended by 18 months last year after a US man swam uninvited to her lakeside home in Rangoon. An earlier appeal was rejected by a lower court.

The hearing comes days after the latest in a series of meetings between Ms Suu Kyi and a member of the military government.

Her lawyers have based their appeal on a legal technicality rather than the facts of the case, says the BBC's South-East Asia correspondent, Rachel Harvey.

They argue that the charges against their client were brought using a law from a constitution which is now defunct.

Speaking to the BBC just before the hearing, one of Ms Suu Kyi's lawyers, sounded confident.

"From a purely legal point of view," he said, "we should win".

But Western diplomats based in Rangoon believe that confidence may be grounded more in hope than expectation, our correspondent reports.

A decision is not expected for at least a week.


(BBC)