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The son of the deposed leader of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi asked for her release from prison because of fears for the 79-year-old’s health in the country’s “terrible” prisons.
Kim Aris said The Independent his mother had already been in prison for too long, and her health was failing.
“Maymay is weak and in poor health, which is why I once again make this sincere plea for her release,” he said. “Her father died bringing freedom to his country. She sacrificed so much of her life to give people basic human rights.”
Mr. Aris spoke as did three former British foreign ministers united to demand the release of Ms. Suu Kyisaying she was held in appalling conditions on trumped-up charges and deserved the chance to lead her country in a democracy.
In 2015, the figure Myanmar’s democracy movement and Nobel laureate won a snap election, but after several years of an uneasy alliance between civilian and military government, she was arrested in early 2021 during a coup and is believed to have been held in solitary confinement ever since.
Watch: Canceled: The Rise and Fall of Aung San Suu Kyi documentary on Independent TV
“She dedicated her life to the cause of freedom and the fight against tyranny in her country. She has been held for too long without a fair trial – but in all the years of captivity, her drive to make Myanmar free and democratic has never wavered,” Aris said.
“By her 80th birthday next year, she will have spent a quarter of her life in military custody. I pray for her release as well as her well being. She is the mother of me and my brother, as well as our country.
“May he live to breathe the air of freedom and share it in the name of democracy.”
Mr Aris said he was grateful for that The Independent’s new documentary on Suu Kyi for highlighting her current plight in prison, adding: “I am delighted by the response from three former UK foreign ministers and other voices at Westminster who have also called for her release.”
documentary, Canceled: The Rise and Fall of Aung San Suu Kyi, it charts her political emergence in the 1980s, her tumultuous time as Myannar leader, and her subsequent arrests and imprisonments.
Australian economist Sean Turnell was an economic adviser to Suu Kyi and was also imprisoned shortly after the coup.
Mr Turnell saw her every Thursday during their joint year-long trial, and said she was “incredibly strong” and had maintained an “amazing sense of humour” during the ordeal.
However, he said conditions in Myanmar’s prisons were appalling: there was no protection from extreme heat or monsoon floods, the quality of food was appalling and disease was rife.
Because of the poor conditions, Turnell said deaths in the prison are also common.
“The prison cells where political prisoners are held in Myanmar are rudimentary, if not downright appalling,” he said.
Mr Turnell, who will be released from prison in November 2022, said Ms Suu Kyi’s life must now be “incredibly difficult”.
“She has a number of underlying medical conditions that she has to deal with. The conditions in which she is kept are quite horrible,” he said.
Mr Turnell said he witnessed it Myanmar Army built a separate, special cell for Ms. Suu Kyi during their trial, and watched as she was taken in and out of the cell in appalling conditions that he did not believe had improved much since then.
“I worry about her. I think all those people who know and love her are terribly worried about her,” he said.
“The last time I saw her, which was probably a year and a half ago, she was incredibly resilient and all, but the conditions certainly weren’t good.”