Jailed Myanmar Political Dissident’s Meeting With Red Cross Official Fuels Hopes for Her Eventual Release

One of the world’s most celebrated dissidents, the jailed Myanmar opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi, may be closer to freedom with her meeting in prison with a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross.Myanmar’s military, which seized total control five years ago while she was de facto leader of an uneasy regime that was attempting to share power with the armed forces, is widely believed to want to show its benevolence after jailing and killing thousands of foes.Ms. Suu Kyi, who turned 81 in June, looked trim and at ease in two photographs released by the Myanmar government showing her with the ICRC’s Myanmar representative, Arnaud de Baecque. Clad in Myanmar dress, smiling, she betrayed no signs of ill health or deprivation, The government, eager to show its good will, also released a photograph, distributed by Reuters, showing her cutting a birthday cake inscribed, in icing, “Happy Birthday Aunty Suu.”She and Mr. de Baecque met in the capital, Naypyidaw, more than 200 miles north of Yangon, the commercial hub and former capital., according to the government. The meeting appeared as a carefully staged follow-up to the regime reducing her prison term to 18 years from 33 years while freeing thousands of dissidents. She’s reportedly been moved from prison to a form of house arrest in Naypyidaw — possibly on the way to her long-time residence on a large guarded estate in Yangon.By publicizing the good-will surrounding the meeting with the ICRC representative, the regime sparked speculation that the next step may be to free Ms. Suu Kyi under carefully circumscribed conditions limiting whom she can see and where she can go. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under arrest for her campaign against a previous military dictatorship but is not believed strong enough to pose a threat to the present set of rulers. The ICRC was circumspect in confirming the official government announcement of the meeting without disclosing what was said or even where they met.“The visit was carried out in accordance with the ICRC’s standards and procedures for visiting people deprived of liberty,” said the ICRC in a brief statement to the Sun. “This included the opportunity to speak with Daw (Madam) Aung San Suu Kyi in private.” The statement added that “detention visits provide people deprived of liberty with the opportunity to exchange news with their families” but did not say to whom Ms. Suu Kyi might have sent messages.Recipients may have included Kim Aris, the younger of the two sons that Ms. Suu Kyi had with her husband, Michael, a prominent Tibetan language scholar who died in 1999 on his 53rd birthday a decade after she had returned to Myanmar to begin her campaign against harsh military rule. Holding out hope for his mother’s release, Kim Aris posted “This may be a first step, but it must not be the last.”Ms. Suu Kyi had appeared to have triumphed at last in bringing democracy to Myanmar when, in elections in 2015, her National League for Democracy won a majority of seats in both the upper and lower houses of the parliament. She could not serve as president under a law banning candidates who had foreign husbands, but she soon got the title of state counselor — enough to be seen as the country’s real leader.Well aware of the need to compromise with military leaders and appeal to popular sentiment, Ms. Suu Kyi showed no sympathy for the Muslim minority Rohingya, hundreds of thousands of whom have been driven from their homes and forced to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. Even so, military leaders simply could not stand seeing her in power.After another election, as a new parliament was about to take office in 2021, the armed forces, led by General Min Aung Hlaing, who had presided over the campaign against the Rohingya, staged a coup, arresting Ms. Suu Kyi and her confederates. Then, late last year, he oversaw elections for a new parliament, which duly elected him president in February.It’s that faux show of democracy that provides a glimmer of hope. In a social media post quoted by the Guardian, Kim Aris foresaw “greater 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.”

Jailed Myanmar Political Dissident’s Meeting With Red Cross Official Fuels Hopes for Her Eventual Release

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