Aung San Suu Kyi's son speaks with her for first time in nearly six years

Kim Aris, the son of Myanmar's detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, spoke with his 81-year-old mother by telephone on Thursday, their first direct conversation since the 2021 military coup that toppled the government she led.

The 20-minute call was made through Myanmar's Embassy in London, according to Khaing Khaing Soe, a spokesperson for Myanmar's military-backed president, who also shared photographs of the two on the phone. Aris, a 49-year-old carpenter who lives in London, said his mother's first words were a question about his health, and that he told her the family was sending their love and asked about hers.

"My mother is actually alive and well," he said. "Hearing her voice has reassured me."

A censored letter and little else

Until the call, Aris said he had received almost no word from her — just a single censored letter three years ago and occasional second-hand scraps of information. He believes the military monitored the conversation.

Suu Kyi was first sentenced in 2021, with consecutive trials through 2022 bringing her total sentence to 33 years on corruption and electoral fraud charges widely condemned by the U.S., Western countries and human rights groups as fabricated. The sentence was later reduced, leaving her with 18 years still to serve.

What the call revealed

From the conversation, Aris said he learned his mother is being held at "a residence" somewhere in the surroundings of Naypyidaw, Myanmar's capital, with police and military personnel around the building and a "fenced off, with a scrubby, nondescript garden" she is allowed 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. Aris said she is permitted to read books but does not get news, radio, television or newspapers.

Her health has long worried the family. Aris said she "sounded strong" but is still in considerable pain from tendonitis in her hand, which at times she cannot use, and receives a health checkup every six months. He said food is cooked at the residence and sometimes delivered by her lawyers. She asked for care packages with "some healthy foods and some nice foods" as a treat, and he said he may send Ben's Cookies, a brand founded in Oxford where she raised her sons, and some chocolate.

Because the call was likely monitored, he said, "there's nothing we could talk about that's too sensitive," including Myanmar's civil war.

Pressure and a bargaining chip

The coup triggered a civil war that has killed about 100,000 people, according to the conflict monitoring organization ACLED, and the U.N. says millions have been displaced. Aris said he believes Myanmar's generals want to present a better image as coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, installed as president after a military-engineered election in January, travels abroad seeking legitimacy. Min Aung Hlaing remains under U.S. sanctions for human rights abuses, including mass killings and expulsions of Rohingya Muslims that Washington has declared a genocide.

Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the exiled National Unity Government, told NPR he believes the regime "dare not release" Suu Kyi. Richard Horsey, senior Asia adviser at the International Crisis Group, called her status "potentially the most valuable card Min Aung Hlaing holds," adding that her release is very unlikely and would not on its own end the war. The State Department said it continues to call for her "immediate and unconditional release."

Source: NPR News.