Kim Aris speaks with mother Aung San Suu Kyi for first time in over five years
BANGKOK — The son of Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Thursday that he had spoken with his mother for the first time in more than five years while she remains under house arrest, reports BritPanorama.
Kim Aris, who for years had only received sporadic, secondhand updates about his 81-year-old mother, confirmed the call occurred through Myanmar’s embassy in London.
“Hearing her voice again means more to me than words can express,” Aris stated.
A spokesperson for Myanmar’s military-backed president revealed on social media that Aris had spoken with Suu Kyi by telephone, sharing separate photographs of the pair.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been detained since February 2021, when Myanmar’s military ousted her elected government and arrested civilian leaders in early morning raids.
The coup set off nationwide protests that evolved into an armed resistance movement, plunging the impoverished Southeast Asian nation into a civil war that has killed about 100,000 people and displaced millions.
Suu Kyi was moved to house arrest in April following a military-engineered election that installed coup leader Min Aung Hlaing as president.
She is currently serving an 18-year prison sentence on various charges including incitement and corruption, all of which she denies.
“She remains unjustly detained and a single conversation cannot restore the years taken from her or the rights she is still denied,” Aris commented.
He added, “Regular, direct and private family contact and independent medical access must be guaranteed.”
For years, little information emerged regarding her health and well-being, raising concern among supporters and foreign governments.
In August, Suu Kyi met with a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross, a visit that Aris described as a positive sign at the time.
The military-backed government has recently released rare photographs of Suu Kyi meeting with officials who delivered her books and a letter from King Charles.
“Above all, my mother and all political prisoners must be released immediately and unconditionally,” Aris stated, adding, “Freedom is not a favor to be granted or a concession to be negotiated.”
