Aung San Suu Kyi’s son challenged Myanmar’s junta to provide proof of his mother’s wellbeing after the military claimed the imprisoned former leader was in good health despite not being seen or heard from in over two years.
Myanmar’s military on Tuesday issued a rare response after Suu Kyi’s son, Kim Aris, raised an alarm over her condition and said he did not know whether she was still alive.
“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is in good health,” the military said in a statement carried by the junta-run Myanmar Digital News, using an honorific equivalent to Mrs.
However, the military provided no evidence or details to substantiate its claims about Ms Suu Kyi’s health.
"The military claims she is in good health, yet they refuse to provide any independent proof, no recent photograph, no medical verification, and no access by family, doctors, or international observers. If she is truly well, they can prove it," Mr Aris told Reuters.
The military-run government issued the update after Mr Aris, speaking in Japan, called for his mother’s release and held a protest rally criticising the planned polls, which critics say are being staged to legitimise the junta’s rule following its seizure of power from Ms Suu Kyi’s elected government.
“For all I know, she could be dead already,” Mr Aris said, citing a prolonged communication blackout under Ms Suu Kyi’s military detention. He said no one had seen her in more than two years and that she had not been allowed contact with her legal team.
The junta is preparing to hold its first election since 2020, when the military overthrew Ms Suu Kyi’s government in a coup that triggered a nationwide civil war.
Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, is serving a 27-year sentence, reduced from a previous 33-year prison term, on charges including corruption, election fraud, sedition, breaching Covid-19 restrictions, illegal possession of communication equipment and official secrets offences.
The charges have been widely denounced as politically motivated and dismissed by critics as a sham designed to keep her in detention.
Mr Aris has been sharply critical of the junta’s plans to stage elections later this month – polls widely dismissed by foreign governments as a facade intended to entrench military rule – though he has acknowledged that the process could still offer a narrow opportunity to push for some relief in his mother’s treatment.
The junta accused her son of “fabrication”, claiming his remarks were intended to disrupt the upcoming elections due to begin in the conflict-torn country from 28 December.
“This is merely a fabrication, timed and distributed to disrupt the free and fair multi-party democratic general election that will be held in Myanmar in the near future,” the statement said.
Mr Aris, on Wednesday, clarified that he has “no intention” of interfering in Burma’s politics but “years of total isolation, secrecy, and silence, any son would begin to fear the worst.”
“My concern is growing because my mother has been hidden for so long that I now have to ask the most painful question: is she still alive?"
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