‘For all I know, she could be dead’ says son of Aung San Suu Kyi

With her health failing and an information vacuum around Myanmar’s jailed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, her son worries that he may not even know if she passed away.

Kim Aris told Reuters he has not heard from his 80-year-old mother in years, and has received only sporadic, secondhand details about her heart, bone and gum problems since a 2021 military coup that deposed her National League for Democracy (NLD) government.

And while he rejects attempts by Myanmar’s regime to hold elections later this month, dismissed by many foreign governments as a sham aimed at legitimizing military rule, he says it could provide an opening to ease his mother’s plight.

“She’s got ongoing health issues. Nobody has seen her in over two years. She hasn’t been allowed contact with her legal team, never mind her family,” he said in an interview in Tokyo. “For all I know, she could be dead already.”