Junta extend detention of deputy opposition leader

YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's military government on Wednesday extended by another year the house arrest of the deputy leader of Aung San Suu Kyi's party, despite calls by the democracy leader's party and the international community for his release.

The National League for Democracy party called the extension of Tin Oo's detention "meaningless and unjust."

The order came just four days after the ruling junta announced it would hold a constitutional referendum in May and a general election in 2010.

He has been in detention since May 2003, when a pro-government mob attacked a motorcade carrying him and Suu Kyi as they were making a political tour of northern Myanmar. Both were taken into custody on the grounds that they posed a risk to national security, and have been either in prison or under house arrest since then.