Activists, politicians and celebrities across the world are marking the 64th birthday of Myanmar's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi with vigils and protests. It will be a grim birthday for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, as she is being detained in Rangon's Insein prison - a notorious facility - for breaking the terms of her house arrest.

On Thursday evening, a large sized photo of Aung San Suu Kyi was projected onto the European Parliament building in Brussels. The EU and the US have renewed calls to Myanmar's military junta for the opposition leader's unconditional release. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, footballer David Beckham, actor George Clooney, John Lennon's widow Oko Ono and author Salman Rushdie were among the celebrities who issued special online statements of 64 words or less on the website “64 for Suu”.

The military regime has kept Ms Suu Kyi under house arrest for most of the past 19 years. She is on trial at Insein jail over a bizarre incident in which an American man swam to her home and stayed there overnight. The opposition leader says that she did not invite the man to her home and did not breach the conditions of her house arrest. Observers say the charges are designed to keep Ms Suu Kyi imprisoned for next year's scheduled elections.

Protest at Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest by Totaloutnow (Flickr)