Suu Kyi Verdict Delayed, but Rumors Fly

The Burmese court trying Aung San Suu Kyi has postponed its verdict for two weeks, surprising her supporters and foreign observers who expected a finding of guilt today. Although the court said it needed more time to decide the case, one diplomat told the Times of London that the junta may be "trying to deflate the foreign reaction." Another possibility: numerologists may have told the extremely superstitious generals to wait for a more auspicious day.

"You learn to expect the unexpected, and that's what we got," said one senior diplomat at the court. Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years, has resigned herself to a lengthy jail term and assembled books to read during her sentence. Riot police are out in force today in Rangoon, and roads to the prison where Suu Kyi is on trial have been ringed with barbed wire.
(More Aung San Suu Kyi stories.)