Suu Kyi Speaks With Son for First Time in Five Years

Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate deposed in Myanmar's 2021 coup, has spoken to her son for the first time in more than five years. Kim Aris, who lives mainly in the UK, was granted the call at the Myanmar embassy in London on Thursday. He said his mother was mentally sharp and physically strong. Aris said he does not believe anyone is with her except military or police personnel, amounting to solitary confinement.

The 81-year-old has been held since the takeover at an unspecified location in the capital, Naypyidaw. Aris said he does not know exactly where she is but believes she is kept in a fenced-off residence surrounded by scrubby land. She has no access to newspapers, radio or television. "She remains completely shut off from the rest of the world," Aris said. "She's been locked up for five years on trumped-up, politically motivated charges and she should be free."

Aris described the invitation to speak as part of a public relations push by Myanmar's military leaders. Former junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has been seeking to rebuild diplomatic ties abroad. In April he appeared in civilian clothes after elections that were widely condemned as a sham. Activists have repeatedly asked for proof of life for Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. She was photographed during a Red Cross visit in August. Last week a government spokesperson released images of her smiling as officials handed over two gardening books sent by Britain's King Charles. A wall calendar in the background showed the date. Aris called such photo opportunities stunts the regime has used before to suggest she is treated fairly.

Suu Kyi led pro-democracy campaigns and was in and out of house arrest from the late 1980s. Her party won a landslide in the 2015 election and she became state counsellor under a civilian-military arrangement. Her standing abroad fell after mass killings and expulsions of Rohingya Muslims in 2016 and 2017. At the International Court of Justice in The Hague she said military units might have used "disproportionate force" while defending the government against genocide accusations. Aris said his mother was never silent on the Rohingya crisis and that what she said about it "could fill volumes". He noted that under her leadership Myanmar began a domestic inquiry and appointed former UN chief Kofi Annan to lead a commission, and that she was "always walking on a tightrope" as state counsellor because the army 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 global support for his mother has dwindled since the Rohingya crisis and that Myanmar now draws little international attention. "The fact that people ignore what's happening in Burma shouldn't be down to what was being done to the Rohingya," he said.