Aung San Suu Kyi’s son casts doubt on reports of her move to house arrest from ‘barbaric’ prison

CNN —

Reports of deposed former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s move to house arrest are “questionable,” her son said Tuesday, adding he believed the ruling military junta wants to keep her location secret to deter resistance attacks on the capital as a civil war rages.

In an interview with CNN, Kim Aris cast doubt on recent reports in Myanmar local media, citing a military spokesperson, that 78-year-old Suu Kyi, the longtime democracy icon and Nobel laureate, had been moved from her prison cell ostensibly due to the unbearable heat.

“It’s hard to know their motives. And as far as whether she’s been moved or not, that’s questionable as well,” Aris told CNN’s Anna Coren. “There’s conflicting reports coming out. In the past, they have said that she’s been moved to house arrest and that has proved to be completely not the case.”

Aris, who lives in Britain, is the younger son of Suu Kyi and her late husband Michael Aris. He said he believes his mother is “either still in prison or she’s in the residence of a military official.”

“Her only house is a house that she has in Rangoon and she’s definitely not there,” he said, using the former name for Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city.

FILE — Myanmar's then leader Aung San Suu Kyi delivers a speech during a meeting on implementation of Myanmar Education Development in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, Jan. 28, 2020. Myanmar’s military says Suu Kyi has been moved from prison to house arrest as health measure due to a heat wave. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo, File)

Related article Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi moved to house arrest

In comments reported by several media outlets last week, junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun said: “Since the weather is extremely hot, it is not only for Aung San Suu