{"id":557505,"date":"2026-08-03T11:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T11:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/557505\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T11:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T11:15:08","slug":"red-cross-visits-aung-san-suu-kyi-after-myanmar-military-pushed-to-prove-she-is-alive-myanmar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/557505\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Cross visits Aung San Suu Kyi after Myanmar military pushed to prove she is alive | Myanmar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Myanmar\u2019s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi<\/a> has met a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the aid organisation has confirmed.<\/p>\n

The meeting on Monday \u2060followed years of questions over the wellbeing of the 81-year-old<\/a>, whose whereabouts and health condition have been largely unknown since the elected civilian government she led was ousted by a military coup in February 2021.<\/p>\n

Little has been seen or heard of Aung San Suu Kyi since late 2022<\/a>. Myanmar\u2019s military-backed administrations have repeatedly claimed she is in \u201cgood health\u201d, even as international pressure has grown on the country\u2019s \u200bgovernment to allow independent verification.<\/p>\n

Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s son, Kim Aris, who had recently demanded the ruling junta provide proof of life<\/a>, welcomed news of the meeting. He described it as \u201cthe first positive development concerning her in more than five years\u201d, adding: \u201cThis is an important first step, but it must not be the last,.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a social media post, Aris said he hoped the meeting would lead to \u201cgreater humanitarian access, direct contact with my mother, credible and independently verified information about her wellbeing, and ultimately her immediate and unconditional release, together with all political prisoners\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Arnaud de Baecque, the resident representative of the ICRC \u200bto Myanmar, visited Aung San Suu Kyi<\/a> in the capital, Naypyidaw, the government spokesperson Khine Khine Soe said in a post on Telegram.<\/p>\n

Photo released by Myanmar\u2019s government shows Aung San Suu Kyi cutting a birthday cake during her meeting with Arnaud de Baecque. Photograph: Myanmar President Office\/AP<\/p>\n

In two of the four photographs provided by Khine Khine Soe, Aung San Suu Kyi \u2013 dressed in traditional \u200bBurmese attire \u2013 is seen with Baecque in a sparsely furnished, wood-panelled room containing only two chairs and a desk.<\/p>\n

In another photo, Myanmar\u2019s former leader is seen cutting a birthday cake inscribed with her name. A clothes rack and storage boxes are visible in the background.<\/p>\n

A fourth image is a closeup of the cake, inscribed with \u201cHappy Birthday Aunty Suu 19.6.2026\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a statement released afterwards, the ICRC confirmed the visit had occurred and was carried out in accordance with its standards and procedures for visiting people deprived of liberty, including the opportunity to speak with Aung San Suu Kyi in private.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn line with the ICRC\u2019s working methods, detention visits provide people deprived of liberty with the opportunity to exchange news with their families,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs is customary in the ICRC\u2019s detention work, observations and recommendations related to the visit are shared exclusively and confidentially with the detaining authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

In late April, after a military-engineered election<\/a> that allowed the former junta leader Min Aung \u200bHlaing to become Myanmar\u2019s \u2060president, authorities said Aung San Suu Kyi had been moved to house arrest.<\/a><\/p>\n

A photograph of the detained former leader was shown on military-controlled TV, however Aris told the BBC the image was taken years ago.<\/p>\n

While the election was largely criticised as a sham<\/a>, it has led to diplomatic re-engagement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).<\/p>\n

Following a meeting between Myanmar\u2019s foreign minister and counterparts from the regional Asean bloc in Bangkok in July, Thailand\u2019s foreign minister, Sihasak Phuangketkeow, called for access<\/a> to Aung San Suu Kyi \u201cso that we can be able to verify the claims\u201d of her good health.<\/p>\n

But the new military-backed administration had so far been reluctant to provide access \u2060to Aung San Suu \u200bKyi, including a May request by the Philippines<\/a> to allow an Asean special envoy to visit her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Myanmar\u2019s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has met a representative of the International Committee of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-557505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}