Myanmar Detention: Suu Kyi and Son Hold First Call Since 2021 Coup
Kim Aris, a carpenter in London, spoke with his mother for 20 minutes on Thursday after nearly six years without direct contact.
By Amina Kaminski ·
Aung San Suu Kyi, 81, spoke by phone with her son Kim Aris on Thursday for 20 minutes, their first direct conversation since the Myanmar military seized power in 2021. The call ended a silence of nearly six years and marked the first time Aris had heard his mother's voice since the coup that toppled the government she led.
Aris, 49, a carpenter based in London, described the exchange in an interview with NPR. He said his mother's opening words asked about his health. He relayed the family's concerns for her in return. "My mother is actually alive and well," Aris said. "Hearing her voice has reassured me."
Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, was first sentenced in 2021. Trials that ran through 2022 on corruption and electoral fraud charges brought her total to 33 years. The U.S., Western governments and human rights groups have called the charges fabricated. A later reduction left her with 18 years to serve. Khaing Khaing Soe, a spokesperson for Myanmar's military-backed president, said on social media that Myanmar's Embassy in London arranged the call and posted separate photographs of mother and son.
Aris said the call indicated his mother is held at a residence near Naypyidaw, the capital. He described a fenced-off building ringed by police and military personnel, with a scrubby garden she is likely permitted to use. "From what I can ascertain, she's basically being held in solitary confinement even if she's not in a prison cell," he said. She reads books, but he does not believe she has access to radio, television or newspapers.
Aris said his mother sounded strong but reported considerable pain from tendonitis in her hand, which she cannot always use. She told him she receives a health checkup every six months. He is weighing a care package; she asked for a mix of healthy food and treats. He is considering Ben's Cookies, a brand founded in Oxford, England, where she raised two sons with her late husband, the British scholar Michael Aris, before moving to Burma in 1988 to care for her ailing mother.
Aris believes the military monitored the call, so he kept topics including the civil war off the table. He recalled her house arrest in Yangon between 1989 and 2010, when the regime photographed parcels sent to her and used them as propaganda. He cast the call as an attempt by the military to improve its image as coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, installed as president after a military-engineered election in January, travels abroad seeking legitimacy. "I hope that governments around the world won't be taken in," he said.
The coup set off a civil war that has killed about 100,000 people, according to the monitoring group ACLED, and the U.N. says millions have been displaced. ACLED reports the military has sharply escalated attacks on civilians since Min Aung Hlaing became president. He remains under U.S. sanctions for human rights abuses, including the 2016-2017 killings and expulsions of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, which Washington has declared a genocide. The U.S. State Department said it remains concerned about everyone it considers unjustly detained and urged the military to hold "genuine dialogue with all opposition groups." Aris said his mother believes she gives the people of Burma strength by sharing what they are going through.
