Myanmar military says Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health” as family voices alarm

Myanmar’s military rulers have said jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health”, offering no evidence as concerns mount over the condition of the ousted civilian leader four years after the 2021 coup.

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is in good health,” the junta said in a brief statement published on the military-run Myanmar Digital News on Tuesday, using an honorific for the former leader.

The statement came a day after Suu Kyi’s son, Kim Aris, told Reuters he had received almost no reliable information about his mother’s condition and feared she could die without him ever knowing.

“The military claims she is in good health, yet they refuse to provide any independent proof, no recent photograph, no medical verification, and no access by family, doctors, or international observers,” Aris said on Wednesday. “If she is truly well, they can prove it.”

A spokesperson for the military regime did not respond to requests for comment.

Suu Kyi, who turned 80 this year, has not been seen publicly for at least two years. In an interview with Asia Times in October, Aris said he believed his mother was being held in solitary confinement in a prison in the capital, Naypyidaw.

“She’s not even seen by other prisoners,” he said.

Detained after the military overthrew her elected government in February 2021, Suu Kyi is serving a combined 27-year prison sentence on charges including incitement, corruption and election fraud, allegations widely viewed by critics as politically motivated and which she denies.

Aris said the military routinely spreads contradictory and unverified claims about her condition.

“They have said she is being held under house arrest, but there is no evidence of that at all,” he told Asia Times. “At other times, they said she has had a stroke and even that she has died.” “It’s obviously hard to deal with all this false information,” he added.

Myanmar remains engulfed in a civil war triggered by the coup, even as the military pushes ahead with plans to hold elections later this month. Analysts, opposition groups and several foreign governments have dismissed the vote as a sham designed to legitimise continued military rule.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the last free election in 2020 by a landslide, has been dissolved, while major anti-junta groups are boycotting the polls.

On Wednesday, the military said it was pursuing legal action against more than 200 people accused of “disrupting” the election process. According to state media, Home Affairs Minister Tun Tun Naung said “a total of 229 people” were being targeted for prosecution.

Rights groups say the law is being used to silence dissent. Convictions can carry prison sentences of up to 10 years, and authorities have reportedly made arrests for acts as minor as posting a “heart” emoji on social media in criticism of the vote. More serious offences, such as damaging ballots or intimidating voters and election workers, can result in sentences of up to 20 years.