LONDON: The son of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s detained former leader, said he was “extremely worried” about his mother’s health, saying she was struggling to eat and was being refused permission to see an outside doctor.
The 78-year-old Nobel laureate, who has been detained for more than two years, has experienced bouts of dizziness and vomiting, and is suffering from a serious gum disease, her son, Kim Aris, who lives in Britain, told Reuters.
“I am extremely worried about the state she is in,” he said. “She is not as robust as she once was. If she is unable to eat, then things are not looking very hopeful.”
Myanmar has been in turmoil since early 2021, when the military overthrew Suu Kyi’s elected government and cracked down on opponents of military rule, with thousands jailed or killed.
Suu Kyi is facing 27 years of detention related to 14 criminal offences. She denies all the charges for which she was convicted, ranging from incitement and election fraud to corruption, and has been appealing against them.
The Myanmar embassy in London did not respond to a request for comment about Suu Kyi’s health and conditions. A spokesperson for the military government did not answer calls on Tuesday and the junta’s information team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Aris, 45, who in 1991 as a teenager collected the Nobel peace prize for his mother who was under house arrest at the time, has had no contact with his mother since she was most recently detained and the military have not responded to his repeated requests.
“There is no way of communicating with her,” he said. “She is not even allowed care packages. She is not allowed access to her legal counsel. She is not allowed visitors. She is not allowed to mingle with other prisoners. It is basically a form of solitary confinement.”
Source: CNA
