Aung San Suu Kyi's son says she sounds strong but is isolated
Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's 81-year-old former democratic leader, appears healthy but is held in near-total isolation, her son Kim Aris said after their first call in over five years. He described the call as part of a military public relations campaign.
Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's former democratic leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, appears to be in good physical and mental health but lives in near-complete isolation, her son has said after their first phone call in more than five years. The call took place on Thursday and matters because Myanmar's military rulers, in power since a 2021 coup, are trying to rebuild international diplomatic ties while she remains detained. She is 81.
"She still sounds certainly all there mentally, and physically she sounds strong," said her son, Kim Aris. He believes nobody but military or police personnel is around her, meaning she is essentially in solitary confinement. Since the coup she has been moved to an unspecified location in the capital, Naypyidaw; Aris thinks it is a fenced-off residence with a patch of scrubby land.
Aris, who has lived in the UK for most of his life and whose late father was a British historian, spoke to his mother at the Myanmar embassy in London. He welcomed the opportunity but called the invitation part of a "public relations" campaign.
Photos and isolation
Former junta chief Min Aung Hlaing swapped his military uniform for civilian clothes in April, after elections widely condemned as a sham. Activists have long demanded "proof of life" for Aung San Suu Kyi and many other political prisoners. In August she was photographed during a Red Cross visit, and last week a government spokesperson released images of her smiling as officials delivered two gardening books given by Britain's King Charles. Aris called such photo opportunities a well-known tactic of the regime.
He said his mother receives no newspapers, radio or television, so she may be unaware of events outside her surroundings, and that she faces trumped-up, politically motivated charges.
Background
After her party won the 2015 election, Aung San Suu Kyi became "state counsellor" under a civilian-military power-sharing arrangement. Her international standing was damaged by the 2016–2017 mass killings and expulsions of Rohingya Muslims. The 2021 coup triggered a civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people, according to conflict monitors.
