Israel has hailed the release of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as a step towards freedom in the Asian country.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said: “Israel warmly welcomes the release from prolonged house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi.

“We hope that her walking free will constitute a first step for the advance of democratisation and national reconciliation in [Burma].”

The Nobel Laureate was released on Saturday after spending almost 15 of the last 21 years under house arrest.

Her party, the National League for Democracy, won a landslide victory in a 1990 election but the result was suppressed by the Burmese military junta.