Aung San Suu Kyi meets Red Cross official, military-backed government says, after proof of life campaign

By Helen Regan, Ross Adkin, CNN

(CNN) — Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday, a government spokesperson said, in what appeared to be her first public meeting with a foreign official in several years, and which comes after international concerns about her health.

A photograph released by the military-backed government and purporting to show the meeting showed Suu Kyi, 81, in traditional Burmese dress, smiling and shaking hands with the official, who the government named as the ICRC’s resident representative to Myanmar, in a sparse room with a wooden floor and walls.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate and for decades the face of Myanmar’s struggle against military rule, has been detained by the military since 2021, when it ousted the civilian government she led in a coup. Since then, the military have kept her exact whereabouts and condition secret as a deadly civil war has engulfed much of the impoverished Southeast Asian nation.

The meeting came after mounting concerns Suu Kyi’s health was deteriorating and followed a campaign launched by her son Kim Aris demanding the military offer proof she was still alive.

CNN has reached out to the ICRC and Kim Aris for comment on the meeting.

Two other photos, released by the military-backed government and published by Reuters news agency, purportedly show Suu Kyi celebrating her 81st birthday on June 19. In the images, Suu Kyi can be seen wearing a white shirt and is cutting a cake with pink frosting adorned with the words “Happy Birthday Aunty Suu” written in icing and the date.

CNN cannot independently verify the images.

Closed-door trial

Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence after being jailed on a litany of charges, from breaching COVID restrictions to bribery, to incitement against the military. Critics denounced the trial, which was held behind closed doors, as a sham designed to remove the popular leader from politics.

The timing of the meeting comes as Myanmar’s junta chief turned president Min Aung Hlaing is scheduled to travel to Thailand on August 6 and will meet with Thailand’s Prime ​Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Thailand has being pushing for a meeting with Suu Kyi and has signaled willingness for greater engagement with Myanmar’s military-backed government.

Southeast Asian Foreign Ministers held an informal meeting with Myanmar Foreign Minister U Tin Maung Swe in Bangkok on July 12, their first face-to-face engagement with a representative of the military-backed government since the coup.

Following that meeting, Philippine Foreign Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro said he had conveyed to them that Aung San Suu Kyi is in “good health” and being treated like “a sister.”

In April, state media reported that Suu Kyi had been moved to house arrest to serve the rest of her sentence at a “designated residence.” However, in a statement, her son said the announcement did little to dispel fears about her condition or even confirm that she was still alive.

“I still do not know where my mother is. I do not know how she is. I remain deeply concerned about whether she is still alive,” he said. “If she is alive, I ask for proof of life.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.