Aung San Suu Kyi's son calls regime proof-of-life images 'stunts'
Kim Aris has dismissed the Myanmar military government's recent proof-of-life photographs of his 81-year-old mother, Aung San Suu Kyi, as staged stunts, saying she is kept in near-complete isolation in Naypyidaw, five years after the coup that removed her from power.
Aung San Suu Kyi's son calls regime proof-of-life images 'stunts'
Images dismissed as staged
Myanmar's military rulers have twice put Aung San Suu Kyi before cameras in recent months. In August, she was photographed during a Red Cross visit. Then last week a government spokesperson published images of her smiling in a wood-panelled room as officials delivered two gardening books gifted by Britain's King Charles, with a paper calendar showing the date on the wall.
Her son Kim Aris is not convinced. He said the photographs were staged to make it look as though his mother is being treated fairly by her captors.
"these photo-ops were well-known stunts that the regime had used before"
Held apart from the world
Aris said his mother appears to be held in near-complete isolation, which amounts essentially to solitary confinement.
"I don't think she has anybody outside of the military or the police around her"
He described her as shut off from the world, with no newspapers, radio or television, and said she has now been locked up for five years on charges he called trumped-up and politically motivated. After her 2021 deposition, she was moved to an unspecified location in the capital; Aris believes she is being held in a fenced residence in Naypyidaw with a small patch of land around it.
The phone call behind the statements
The statements from Aris followed an unusual gesture from the regime: he was allowed to speak to his mother on Thursday at the Myanmar embassy in London, their first call in more than five years. He said she sounded mentally sharp and physically strong. Aris, who has lived mostly in the UK and whose late father was a British historian, made the remarks after the call.
He did not take the invitation at face value, saying it formed part of a public relations exercise by the military leaders.
Demands for proof of life
The regime's overtures come amid sustained pressure. Activists have demanded proof of life for Aung San Suu Kyi and many other political prisoners. At the same time, former junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has been working to rebuild international diplomatic ties, and in April he switched his military fatigues for civilian clothes after elections that were widely condemned as a sham.
Aris added that global public support for his mother had dwindled incredibly since the Rohingya crisis, and that Myanmar as a whole now receives little international attention.
Aung San Suu Kyi remains detained at a location Aris believes is the fenced residence in Naypyidaw, with activists still demanding proof of life for her and other political prisoners.
