Burmese Interior Minister Major General Maung Oo has told a meeting of local officials that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be released in November.

Last August, Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to an additional18 months of house arrest for violating the conditions of her earlier sentence. She was accused of harbouring a US citizen who swam uninvited to her lakeside home.

Critics say the date of her announced release was apparently chosen to ensure Aung San Suu Kyi would not be able to take part in the parliamentary election scheduled to be held in October.

If the elections go ahead as planned, they would be the first in two decades. In 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party won a landslide victory but the military junta refused to relinquish power.

Photo: Protesters demanding the release of Aung San Suu Kyi (Flickr/totaloutnow)