(CNN) — Myanmar’s detained former leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi met with a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday, in what appeared to be her first public meeting with a foreign official in several years, and which comes after international concerns about her health.
A photograph released by the military-backed government showed Suu Kyi, 81, in traditional Burmese dress, smiling and shaking hands with the official, who the government named as the ICRC’s resident representative to Myanmar, in a sparse room with a wooden floor and walls.
The meeting came as “quite a relief” to Kim Aris, Suu Kyi’s son who has fiercely advocated for the military to offer proof she was still alive and for her ultimate release.
The ICRC said in a statement that Suu Kyi met with one of their delegates on Monday “in accordance with the ICRC’s standards and procedures for visiting people deprived of liberty.”
“This included the opportunity to speak with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in private,” the ICRC said.
Suu Kyi, for decades the face of Myanmar’s struggle against military rule, has been detained by the military since 2021, when it ousted the civilian government she led in a coup. Since then, the military have kept her exact whereabouts and condition secret as a deadly civil war has engulfed much of the impoverished Southeast Asian nation. Tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced as pro-democracy groups and ethnic rebels battle the military across the country.
The meeting came after mounting concerns Suu Kyi’s health was deteriorating and followed a ‘Proof of Life’ campaign launched by Aris leading up to Suu Kyi’s 81st birthday.
Aris told CNN that he awoke to the news on Monday, receiving several messages of the visit before phoning the ICRC, who then arranged for him to meet with Arnaud de Baecque, the head of delegation in Myanmar who met with Suu Kyi.
At first, he said, Aris didn’t know what to make of the long-awaited update. “It’s difficult for me to know what to trust when I hear news like this. After all, we’ve heard various things about May-May’s [mother’s] health and whereabouts and what have you over the last five years, and none of it has been confirmed.”
Operating under strict confidentiality, de Baecque could share little detail of the brief 30-minute meeting but was able to reassure Aris that his mother looked well. The ICRC was unable to conduct an independent medical exam for her, according to Aris.
The ICRC said its detention visits “provide people deprived of liberty with the opportunity to exchange news with their families.”
“While this is a good step in the right direction, it’s by no means the end,” Aris said. “I want to see her again. I want her to have her basic human rights of being able to have contact with her family.”
Two other photos, released by the military-backed government, purportedly show Suu Kyi celebrating her birthday on June 19. In the images, Suu Kyi can be seen wearing a white shirt and is cutting a cake with pink frosting adorned with the words “Happy Birthday Aunty Suu” written in icing and the date, June 29.
CNN cannot independently verify the images.
Closed-door trial
Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence after being jailed on a litany of charges, from breaching COVID restrictions to bribery, to incitement against the military. Critics denounced the trial, which was held behind closed doors, as a sham designed to remove the popular leader from politics.
The timing of the meeting comes as Myanmar’s junta chief turned president Min Aung Hlaing is scheduled to travel to Thailand on August 6 and will meet with Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Thailand has being pushing for a meeting with Suu Kyi and has signaled willingness for greater engagement with Myanmar’s military-backed government.
As well as neighboring Thailand, the US, China and others have been pressing Myanmar for greater transparency over Suu Kyi’s situation.
Crisis Group’s senior Asia adviser Richard Horsey said the military-backed government would have “deliberately chosen” an ICRC representative as Suu Kyi’s first public meeting so Naypyidaw could address “concerns over her status and health without opening the door to diplomatic access.”
“Since the coup, Min Aung Hlaing appears to have been determined to keep her incommunicado, as part of his objective of neutralizing her as a political force,” Horsey said. “Allowing diplomatic access may in his mind have undermined that — and created pressure from other diplomatic actors to also be given access.”
Thailand’s foreign minister described the meeting as a “positive step” and said he hoped for “further positive developments.”
Southeast Asian Foreign Ministers held an informal meeting with Myanmar Foreign Minister U Tin Maung Swe in Bangkok on July 12, their first face-to-face engagement with a representative of the military-backed government since the coup.
Following that meeting, Philippine Foreign Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro said he had conveyed to them that Aung San Suu Kyi is in “good health” and being treated like “a sister.”
In April, state media reported that Suu Kyi had been moved to house arrest to serve the rest of her sentence at a “designated residence.” However, in a statement, her son said the announcement did little to dispel fears about her condition or even confirm that she was still alive.
“I still do not know where my mother is. I do not know how she is. I remain deeply concerned about whether she is still alive,” he said. “If she is alive, I ask for proof of life.”
CNN’s Kocha Olarn contributed reporting.
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