MELBOURNE (REUTERS) – Australia called on Friday (April 1) for Myanmar’s ruling military to immediately release an Australian economic adviser to the deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained for two months.

Dr Sean Turnell, a professor of economics at Macquarie University in Sydney who has been advising Ms Suu Kyi for years, was reportedly charged a week ago under Myanmar’s official secrets law, together with Ms Suu Kyi and some of her ministers.

Calling it an “arbitrary detention”, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement that Dr Turnell had been detained with limited consular access.

“Australia continues to seek his immediate release and official information about the reasons for his detention both in Myanmar and through the embassy in Australia,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement.

“We call on the military regime to allow Professor Turnell to return to his family in Australia.”

Dr Turnell was the first foreign national to be arrested after the Feb 1 military coup overthrew Ms Suu Kyi’s government.

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