OTTAWA — Canada's prime minister Tuesday "strongly condemned" a further 18-months of house arrest handed to Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, saying it is "unwarranted, unjustified, and vindictive."

"Canada strongly condemns the Burmese regime's decision to sentence Aung San Suu Kyi to a further 18 months house arrest," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement. Canada refers to Myanmar by its former name, Burma.

"This decision is clearly not in accordance with the rule of law: the charges laid against her were baseless and her trial did not come close to meeting international standards of due process.

"Her continued detention is unwarranted, unjustified, and vindictive," he said.

A Myanmar court convicted the 64-year-old opposition leader of breaching the terms of her detention by the ruling military junta, following a bizarre incident in which an American man swam uninvited to her home.

Judges sentenced Suu Kyi to three years of hard labor and imprisonment, but military ruler Than Shwe signed a special order commuting the sentence and ordering her to serve out a year-and-a-half under house arrest.

Suu Kyi has been kept in detention for nearly 14 of the past 20 years, since the military regime refused to recognize her National League for Democracy's landslide victory in elections in 1990.

Harper accused Myanmar's ruling generals of having "manufactured an excuse to keep Aung San Suu Kyi in detention to ensure she will not be able to participate in the proposed 2010 elections."

"Canada calls for the regime to unconditionally free all political prisoners and allow all citizens, including opposition groups, to freely participate in the electoral process," he said.

Last year, Canada made Suu Kyi an honorary citizen in recognition of her "long and courageous struggle to promote freedom and democracy" in her homeland.