Aung San Suu Kyi’s son has challenged the country's military rulers to provide proof that she is still alive, saying the family has received no credible evidence to support claims that she has been transferred from prison to house arrest.
Kim Aris, the younger son of Myanmar's jailed pro-democracy leader, said he remains deeply sceptical of the junta's announcement in April that the 81-year-old’s prison sentence had been reduced to around 17 years and that she had been moved to house arrest.
Instead, Mr Aris said he believes his Nobel Peace Prize laureate mother remains imprisoned in Naypyitaw.
"The only news that we hear about her health is that it's getting worse," he told Kyodo News from London.
He added that conditions inside the prison where she is believed to be held are "pretty horrendous", citing information from a former inmate.
Mr Aris said his mother is suffering from a heart condition as well as age-related illnesses, including osteoporosis. He also revealed that the last time he heard directly from her was through a letter sent more than two years ago.
Ms Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Prize in 1991, has been in detention since Myanmar's military seized power in a coup in February 2021, overthrowing the democratically elected government in which she served as the country's de facto leader. She has since been sentenced in a series of trials that her supporters and many international observers have described as politically motivated.
Although Myanmar's military government claimed earlier this year that she had been transferred to house arrest, Mr Aris said there had been "any evidence" that such a move had taken place.
Born and raised in London, the 48-year-old lived with both his parents until his mother returned to Myanmar when he was about 11 to care for her ailing mother. That visit marked the beginning of her involvement in the country's pro-democracy movement.
During the years she led the movement against military rule, Ms Suu Kyi spent around 15 years under house arrest between 1989 and 2010. Mr Aris was raised in Britain by his father, the late British academic Michael Aris.
Following the military coup in 2021, Mr Aris said he felt compelled to become his mother's public advocate.
"I'd rather not be a public figure, but in this case I need to stand up for my mother," he said.
To mark Ms Suu Kyi's 81st birthday in June, he completed an 81km skateboard challenge to draw international attention to her continued imprisonment. The campaign followed his earlier "81 for 81" initiative, which encouraged supporters around the world to complete activities linked to the number 81 while calling on Myanmar's military to provide independent proof that she is alive.
Mr Aris has also travelled internationally, including to Japan, to campaign for his mother's release and urged governments to maintain pressure on Myanmar's military leadership.
As fighting between the junta and pro-democracy forces continues, he called for stronger international action to cut off aviation fuel supplies to the military, arguing it would curb air strikes against civilians.
"Stopping the military getting access to aviation fuel, that's the main thing," he said.
Ms Suu Kyi has spent a total 20 years in detention or under house arrest between 1989 and 2026.
The past five years have been especially brutal, with even her family unsure of where she was being held. Her journey is documented in a film released by The Independent entitled Cancelled: The Rise and Fall of Aung San Suu Kyi.
