Images Provide First Verified Proof of Life Since 2021 Coup as International Calls for Her Release Continue.
On Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed the authenticity of four photographs of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the 2021 coup carried out by the military junta that rules Myanmar.
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The images come after months of uncertainty about the health and whereabouts of the 81-year-old former leader, as well as calls from her relatives and Southeast Asian countries for proof that she is alive.
The news comes three days before the visit of Myanmar military government leader Min Aung Hlaing to neighboring Thailand, amid renewed efforts to emerge from the international isolation into which the country was plunged following the February 2021 coup.
Myanmar junta spokesperson Khiang Khian Soe posted the photographs on Facebook along with a message stating that Suu Kyi had met with ICRC representative Arnaud de Baecque. He also said the two held a private meeting that lasted “more than half an hour” and that Suu Kyi “is in good condition and has stable health.”
On this day in 2022, Ko Jimmy, Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw, Ko Hla Myo Aung and Ko Aung Thura Zaw became the first political prisoners hanged in Myanmar since 1989.
Read more: https://t.co/v4ES1rdnRB…#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/FPDb8DHnUL— Htar Thakhin (@htartha76128693) July 23, 2026
The ICRC said the meeting took place Monday in accordance with its protocol for visits to “persons deprived of their liberty,” which allows detainees to “exchange news with their families.” Neither side has confirmed where the meeting took place, although the military junta maintains that the former state counselor is being held in Naypyitaw, something that has not been verified by her relatives or legal team.
The images represent the first verified proof of life of Suu Kyi since April 30, when the Myanmar junta released its first photograph of her in more than three years to announce that she had been transferred from prison to house arrest, although that image could not be verified.
Since then, her youngest son, Kim Aris, has intensified a global campaign demanding reliable proof of life for his mother, with whom he has not spoken by telephone since Jan. 31, 2021, one day before the military coup that ended a decade of democratic transition in Myanmar.
“I am deeply grateful to everyone who has supported my family, especially those who backed the campaign for proof of life… Today brings hope,” Aris said, expressing hope that this development will pave the way for the “immediate and unconditional release” of his mother and nearly 22,000 political prisoners in Myanmar.
The youngest son of the pro-democracy leader also thanked the international community for its “growing efforts,” especially within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), whose members have repeatedly called on Min Aung Hlaing’s military government to release Suu Kyi.
Meanwhile, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said the photographs represent “the success achieved through the collective pressure of national and international organizations,” while reiterating its call for the unconditional release of the octogenarian.
In addition, the Thai government welcomed the news and expressed its hope that the Myanmar authorities will “undertake further positive measures to achieve lasting peace and stability” in the country, where the coup intensified a civil conflict and halted the democratic transition led by Suu Kyi.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
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