Suu Kyi in near-solitary confinement, son says after first call in five years

Aung San Suu Kyi is alive and in good physical condition, but she has spent the last five years in near-total isolation, according to her son. Kim Aris made the assessment after speaking with the 81-year-old former state counsellor for the first time in over five years.

Aris said his mother sounds mentally sharp and physically strong on the phone. He added that she appears to be held in solitary confinement, with no one around her other than military or police personnel.

The former leader was deposed during the 2021 military coup. Since then, she has been moved to an unspecified location in the capital. Aris believes she is held in a fenced-off residence in Naypyidaw, surrounded by scrubby land, though he said he is not certain of the exact location.

Aris, who has lived in the United Kingdom for most of his life, was granted permission to call his mother on Thursday. The call took place at the Myanmar embassy in London. He described the invitation as part of a public relations campaign by the country's military leaders.

General Min Aung Hlaing, the former junta chief, has been working to rebuild diplomatic ties. In April, he switched from military fatigues to civilian clothes following elections that were widely criticized as a sham.

Activists have long demanded proof that Suu Kyi and other political prisoners are alive. In August, she was photographed during a Red Cross visit. Last week, a government spokesperson released images of her smiling in a wood-panelled room. In the photos, officials handed her two gardening books given by King Charles of Britain. A paper calendar on the wall behind her displayed the date.

Aris called these photo opportunities familiar stunts used by the regime to suggest fair treatment. He stated that she remains completely shut off from the rest of the world. She is not allowed access to newspapers, radio, or television.

"She's been locked up for five years on trumped-up, politically motivated charges and she should be free," Aris said.

Suu Kyi has faced house arrest for much of her life since the late 1980s. She led pro-democracy movements and won a landslide election in 2015. Her international standing later suffered after mass killings and expulsions 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 but defended the government against accusations of genocide.

Aris said his mother was never silent on the Rohingya crisis. He noted that under her leadership, Myanmar began a domestic inquiry and appointed former UN chief Kofi Annan to lead a commission. He described her time as state counsellor as walking a tightrope, knowing the military could remove her fragile power at any time.

The 2021 takeover triggered a civil war. Conflict monitors say the war has killed more than 100,000 people. Aris said global public support for his mother has dwindled since the Rohingya crisis. He argued that the lack of international attention to the whole country should not be down to what was being done to the Rohingya.