Myanmar’s detained former leader and Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been moved from prison to house arrest, a spokesperson for the military government has said.
“Since the weather is extremely hot, it is not only for Aung San Suu Kyi ... For all those who need necessary precautions, especially elderly prisoners, we are working to protect them from heatstroke,” Major General Zaw Min Tun said.
In September last year, son Kim Aris voiced concern for his mother’s health in prison, saying she had such serious gum disease that she was struggling to eat after years in jail following her ousting in a 2021 coup.
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent nearly two decades under some form of arrest since 1989. She faces 27 years in prison for crimes ranging from treason and bribery to violations of the telecommunications law, charges she denies.
“Nobody outside the prison has seen her for a long time,” Aris told the Guardian in an interview from his UK home. “Now, being unable to eat puts her life at risk. Given how many people lose their lives in prison in Burma [Myanmar’s former name], this is of grave concern.”
A spokesperson for the National Unity Government in exile called for the unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and U Win Myint, Myanmar’s ousted president, who has also been moved to house arrest, according to the media reports.
“Moving them from prisons to houses is good, as houses are better than prisons,” spokesperson Kyaw Zaw told Reuters late on Tuesday. “However, they must be unconditionally freed. They must take full responsibility for the health and security of Aung San Suu Kyi and U Win Myint.”
Reports of Aung San Suu Kyi being moved to house arrest have circulated before.
In the interview last September, Aris questioned reports last year that she had been moved to house arrest. “They have tried these tactics of appeasing the broader international community by saying that she has been moved to house arrest, which is absolutely not true,” he said. “She’s still in prison.”
With Agence France-Presse and Reuters