The son of Myanmar's detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Thursday that he had spoken with his mother for the first time in more than five years while she remains under house arrest. Kim Aris, who for years had only received sporadic, second-hand updates about his 81-year-old mother, said he had spoken directly with Suu Kyi, Reuters reported from Bangkok.

Source: Reuters via The Business Standard

A spokesperson for Myanmar's military-backed president said on social media that Aris had spoken with Suu Kyi by telephone through Myanmar's embassy in London, sharing separate photographs of the pair. A statement said the pair had a 'consular telephone conversation' for 20 minutes starting at 2:30 pm (0800 GMT), and that Aris had taken the call from the embassy, AFP reported. The presidential spokeswoman released photographs of Suu Kyi and Aris speaking into telephones, the detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate sitting under a calendar marked with Thursday's date.

Source: AFP via The Peninsula Times

"She was sounding fairly healthy," Aris told AFP after the conversation. "She was able to say she was in good health, but being 81, things aren't getting any better," said Aris, who lives in the United Kingdom. "She was most concerned about my health and the rest of the family: that was her first question, if I was well," he said, adding: "Essentially we just discussed family matters. We knew the phone call would be recorded, so we didn't talk about anything sensitive."

Source: AFP via The Peninsula Times

"Hearing her voice again means more to me than words can express," Aris said in a statement reported by Reuters. "She remains unjustly detained and a single conversation cannot restore the years taken from her or the rights she is still denied," he said. "Regular, direct and private family contact and independent medical access must be guaranteed."

Source: Reuters via The Business Standard

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been detained since February 2021, when Myanmar's military ousted her elected government and arrested civilian leaders in early-morning raids. The coup sparked nationwide protests that evolved into an armed resistance movement, plunging the country into a civil war that has killed about 100,000 people and displaced millions, Reuters reported. She was moved to house arrest in April following a military-engineered election that installed coup leader Min Aung Hlaing as president, and is serving an 18-year prison sentence on charges ranging from incitement and corruption to election fraud and violating a state secrets law — all of which she denies.

Source: Reuters via The Business Standard

The call was the second rare update on Suu Kyi this week: Myanmar authorities on Monday published pictures of her receiving a package sent by Britain's King Charles III, AFP reported, and in August she met a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross — a visit Aris described at the time as a positive sign. Analysts say Myanmar's rulers are increasingly advertising Suu Kyi's wellbeing and her contacts with the outside world as they bid to shake off their post-coup pariah status abroad, AFP reported. Aris said he remains very concerned about her wellbeing.

Source: AFP via The Peninsula Times