Aung San Suu Kyi's Son Describes Five Years Without Contact

Myanmar's junta has kept Aung San Suu Kyi away from her family for more than five years, her eldest son said after speaking with her for the first time since her detention began.

Kim Aris, who lives in the UK, spoke with his 81-year-old mother at the Myanmar embassy in London on Thursday. He said she remains in near-total isolation. "She still sounds certainly all there mentally, and physically she sounds strong," Aris said. He added that he believes she has no contact with anyone other than military or police personnel. Aris said he is unaware of her exact location but believes she is held at a fenced residence in Naypyidaw surrounded by open land. She is not permitted newspapers, radio or television, he said. "She remains completely shut off from the rest of the world," Aris said.

Aris said the call was arranged by Myanmar's military leaders and described it as part of a "public relations" campaign. Former junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has sought to restore diplomatic ties abroad after taking office. He appeared in civilian clothes following April elections that were widely condemned as a sham. Photos released by a government spokesperson last week showed Suu Kyi smiling in a wood-panelled room as officials presented two gardening books given to her by Britain's King Charles. A calendar on the wall displayed the date. Aris called such displays familiar tactics the regime has used before to show his mother is treated fairly. "She's been locked up for five years on trumped-up, politically motivated charges and she should be free," he said.

Aung San Suu Kyi was deposed in the 2021 military coup and has been held at an undisclosed location in the capital since. She previously led Myanmar's civilian government after her party won the 2015 election and served as state counsellor under an arrangement shared with the military. She later faced international criticism over the treatment of Rohingya Muslims in 2016 and 2017. At the International Court of Justice in The Hague, she acknowledged that military units might have used "disproportionate force" while defending the government against genocide accusations. Aris said his mother was never "silent" on the issue and that her comments "could fill volumes". He noted that under her leadership Myanmar opened a domestic inquiry and appointed former UN chief Kofi Annan to lead a commission. He also said she was "always walking on a tightrope" as state counsellor because the military could remove her power at any time.

The 2021 takeover set off a civil war that conflict monitors say has killed more than 100,000 people. Aris said public support for his mother has "dwindled incredibly" since the Rohingya crisis and that the entire country suffers from a lack of international attention. "The fact that people ignore what's happening in Burma shouldn't be down to what was being done to the Rohingya," Aris said. Activists have long requested proof-of-life evidence for Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. She was photographed during a Red Cross visit in August.