The government has barred a prominent activist lawyer from defending opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as pressure intensifies on the regime to drop new charges against the Nobel Peace laureate.

Aung Thein said the order revoking his license was issued Friday, a day after a prison court charged Suu Kyi with breaking the conditions of her nearly six-year house arrest, due to end May 27. Critics have denounced the trial as an attempt to keep her locked up. She has spent more than 13 of the last 19 years in detention.

Suu Kyi and two female companions face charges stemming from the mysterious visit of an American intruder who was arrested after he said he spent two days at her lakeside home in Yangon. The trial is set to start Monday.

Suu Kyi, 63, faces up to five years in jail if convicted. Her lawyers insist she did not invite John William Yettaw, who according to state news media swam to her tightly guarded lakeside home using homemade flippers.


Yettaw’s motives remain unclear, but he has been charged with offenses that include encouraging others to break the law and “illegal swimming.”

Aung Thein, 62, was jailed for four months last year for contempt of court while defending political activists.