LONDON - The son of detained former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi says he fears she is being used as a “human shield” in the military junta’s conflict with resistance fighters.
Reports emerged this week that Aung San Suu Kyi had been moved from Nay Pyi Taw prison to house arrest but no other details were given.
Other informed sources in Myanmar say that she remains in prison, according to The Irrawaddy, an independent Myanmar news outlet.
Her son, Kim Aris, who lives in London, told Reuters that he had heard his mother was suffering from the heat, but that the junta’s official reason for moving her was “not very likely”.
“I think they have their own reasons for moving her, namely that they’d like to use her as a human shield or a bargaining chip,” Aris said in an interview.
“As the fighting’s getting closer and closer to the military strongholds, I think they may just want to keep her close to use as a human shield, or they might like to negotiate with the resistance forces on her release, trying to gain some sort of, you know, footing for the future,” he said.
The report in The Irrawaddy noted that junta spokespersons said only that Aung San Suu Kyi and other elderly prisoners were being “cared for” because of the extremely hot weather, but they never said she had been moved.
Radio Free Asia reported earlier that Aung San Suu Kyi was believed to be in solitary confinement in the Nay Pyi Taw prison in the capital.
The 78-year-old Nobel laureate has been detained by the Myanmar military since it overthrew her government in a 2021 coup. She was held under house arrest for a total of 15 years under a previous junta.
Anger against the junta has turned into a nationwide armed resistance movement that is now increasingly operating in coordination with established ethnic rebel groups to challenge the military across large parts of the country.
World leaders and pro-democracy activists have repeatedly called for Aung San Suu Kyi’s release. She faces 27 years in prison for crimes ranging from treason and bribery to violations of the telecommunications law, charges she denies.