Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi meets Red Cross official

BANGKOK – Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi met a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Aug 3, after years of questions over the health and well-being of the 81-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Her son said the visit was the first positive development concerning her in more than five years.

“This may be a first step, but it must not be the last,” Kim Aris said in a statement, adding that he has not yet received independent confirmation of his mother’s condition or well-being.

He told Reuters in December 2025 that he had little information about her health – receiving only sporadic, second-hand details about his mother’s heart, bone and gum problems – and had not heard from her in years, fearing she could die without him knowing.

Suu Kyi has been in detention since February 2021, when Myanmar’s military ousted an elected civilian government led by her in a dawn coup, plunging the impoverished South-east Asian nation into turmoil.

Since then, her exact whereabouts and health conditions have been difficult to determine, with no foreign leader or envoy having publicly met her.

On Aug 3, she met Arnaud de Baecque, resident representative of the ICRC to Myanmar, in the capital Naypyitaw, government spokeswoman Khine Khine Soe said in a message via Telegram.

In a statement, the ICRC confirmed a delegate met Suu Kyi, without naming the official.

“The visit was carried out 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,” it said, using an honorific for the veteran politician.

Detention visits provide people deprived of liberty with the opportunity to exchange news with their families, the statement added.

In two of the four photographs provided by the government spokeswoman, Suu Kyi, dressed in traditional Burmese attire, is seen meeting Baecque in a sparsely furnished, wood-panelled room containing only two chairs and a desk.

In another photo, offering a rare glimpse inside what appears to be her residence, she is seen cutting a birthday cake inscribed with her name, with a clothes rack and storage boxes visible in the background.

A fourth photograph is a close-up of the cake, carrying the message: “Happy Birthday Aunty Suu 29.6.2026”.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the location and the date when the pictures were taken. No earlier version of the pictures was found posted online before Aug 3.

Detention since coup

After a marathon run of secret trials following the coup, Suu Kyi was sentenced to 33 years, convicted of charges ranging from corruption to inciting election fraud to violating state secrecy rules.

Her allies maintain the charges were politically motivated and aimed at sidelining Suu Kyi, arguably the most popular politician in the country of 51 million people.

The sentence was later reduced to 27 years, and further cut by one-sixth in April, leaving her with 18 years still to serve, according to a member of her legal team.

House arrest

Myanmar’s military-backed administrations have repeatedly claimed that Suu Kyi is in “good health”, even as international pressure has grown on the government to allow independent verification of her well-being.

In late April, following a military-engineered election that allowed former junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to become Myanmar’s president, and amid growing international pressure, the authorities said she had been moved to house arrest.

Following a meeting between Myanmar’s foreign minister and counterparts from the regional ASEAN grouping in Bangkok in July, Thailand’s top diplomat Sihasak Phuangketkeow called for access to Suu Kyi “so that we can be able to verify the claims” of her good health.

In response to the latest news, Sihasak told The Straits Times on Aug 3 that the Myanmar regime seems “to be listening to our repeated urging that we need more positive developments on The Lady”, as she is known.

“It’s their way of responding to our concerns,” he added.

But the new military-backed administration had so far been reluctant to provide access to Suu Kyi, including a request in May by the Philippines to allow an ASEAN special envoy to meet the detained leader.

Suu Kyi, daughter of the country’s independence hero, General Aung San, was held under house arrest for a total of 15 years under a previous junta at her family residence on Yangon’s Inya Lake, where she famously gave impassioned speeches to crowds of supporters over the metal gates of the property. REUTERS