Myanmar Court Convicts Suu Kyi, U.S. Man

A Myanmar court has found pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kui guilty of violating her house arrest, but the head of the military-ruled country says she can serve out a 1 1/2-year sentence under house arrest.

The court sentenced American John Yettaw to seven years in prison, including four years hard labor, for entering Suu Kyi's home while she was under house arrest.

The 53-year-old Yettaw was found guilty Tuesday of violating the terms of Suu Kyi's detention by swimming to her lakeside home uninvited and staying for two days.

The court sentenced Yettaw to three years in prison for breaching Suu Kyi's house arrest, three years in prison with hard labor for an immigration violation and another year in jail with hard labor for swimming in a restricted zone.

It was not clear if the prison terms would be served concurrently.

Yettaw told the court he swam to Suu Kyi's house to warn her after having a dream that she would be assassinated.

The court initially sentenced Suu Kyi on Tuesday to a three-year prison term. But after a five-minute recess, the country's home minister entered the courtroom and read aloud a special order from junta chief Than Shwe.

The order said Than Shwe was cutting the sentence in half to 1 1/2 years and that it could be served under house arrest.

Suu Kyi has been in detention for 14 of the last 20 years, mostly under house arrest.

The 64-year-old democracy icon's further house arrest will keep her out of politics during next year's elections in Myanmar - a blow to her thousands of supporters and widely seen as the junta's motivation in holding the trial.

Suu Kyi was due to be released from house arrest prior to the elections - but that was before her arrest for violating the terms of that detention and her subsequent conviction on Tuesday.