Obama demands release of Aung San Suu Kyi

Singapore, Nov.16 (ANI): US President Barack Obama has demanded the release of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In an unprecedented encounter with Burmese Prime Minister Lt. Gen Thein Sein here on Sunday, Obama also pushed for the release of other political prisoners held by the Burmese regime.

According to The Times, the message was delivered across the table to Sein during a meeting with the leaders of the ten countries that make up the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The White House spokesman Ben Rhodes said that the President used the meeting to urge Burma's rulers to release the opposition leader and all other political prisoners.

Obama's comments follow last week's meeting between Suu Kyi and a group of US diplomats who were allowed to visit the pro-democracy leader despite her persistent and widely reviled house arrest that has locked her away from the world for 14 of the past 20 years. (ANI)