A court in the Burmese city of Rangoon has begun hearing final arguments in the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader and Nobel Laureate who could face another five years in detention if she is convicted of breaking the terms of her house arrest.

Mrs Suu Kyi was charged in May after John Yettaw, an American citizen from Falcon, Missouri, eluded the tight security surrounding the villa where she was detained in Rangoon, by swimming across the lake that backs on to the house.