Son of Suu Kyi ‘concerned’ as mother marks birthday in junta detention

YANGON: The son of Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “concerned” about her health, he told AFP on Wednesday, as the Nobel laureate turned 79, passing another birthday in military detention.

Suu Kyi has been detained by the military since it toppled her government and seized power in 2021, plunging the Southeast Asian nation into turmoil. The Nobel laureate is serving a 27-year sentence imposed by a junta court after a trial condemned by rights groups as a sham to shut her out of politics. Suu Kyi has now spent almost a quarter of her life under house arrest in jail at the hands of the military, whose iron grip on politics she has battled for decades, her son Kim Aris told AFP. “While I am sure maymay´s many years under house arrest will have prepared her for her current period of isolation, given her age and ongoing health issues, I am concerned about her circumstances,” he said, using a Burmese word for mother.

Suu Kyi, who remains hugely popular in Myanmar, has been largely hidden from view since the coup, appearing only in grainy state media photos taken during court proceedings.

Local media reported that during her months-long trial, Suu Kyi had suffered dizzy spells, vomiting and at times had been unable to eat because of a tooth infection.

In April, the junta said she had been given “necessary care” as temperatures in the military-built capital Naypyidaw.