Myanmar’s ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi marked her 80th birthday on Thursday while still imprisoned by the country’s military regime, serving a 27-year sentence handed down after the 2021 coup.
Once the face of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement, Suu Kyi became the country’s de facto leader during a decade-long political opening.
However, following the military’s return to power, she was detained and convicted on multiple charges, including corruption and violating COVID-19 restrictions, offences widely seen by critics as politically motivated.
“It will be hard to be celebrating at the moment,” said her son, Kim Aris, 47, who lives in the United Kingdom. “We’ve learned to endure when it’s been going on so long.”
To honour her milestone birthday, Aris is running 80 kilometres over eight days and has collected more than 80,000 video messages from supporters worldwide.
However, Suu Kyi is unlikely to see them. She remains isolated in a government compound in Nay Pyi Taw, out of public view, as the military continues its conflict with resistance forces nationwide.
Aris said he has received only one letter from his mother since her imprisonment began two years ago. “We have no idea what condition she’s in,” he added.
Despite her enduring popularity within Myanmar, Suu Kyi’s global reputation as a democracy icon was severely tarnished in recent years.
Her defence of the military during the brutal crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority drew international condemnation, with hundreds of thousands fleeing to Bangladesh under her watch.
While some argued she had little power to oppose the military’s actions, many institutions and former supporters distanced themselves.
Her second imprisonment has drawn far less global attention than her initial detention during the 1990s and 2000s, when she spent 15 years under house arrest, mostly in her family’s lakeside home in Yangon.
Suu Kyi, daughter of independence hero Aung San, returned to Myanmar in 1988 to care for her ailing mother but quickly became the symbolic leader of mass protests against military rule.
After refusing offers of release in exchange for exile, she rose to global prominence and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
Unlike her previous detentions, Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since the coup. Aris expressed concern about her health, citing reports of heart, bone, and dental issues.
Myanmar’s military has provided limited updates, insisting she is in “good health” and receives routine medical check-ups.
Suu Kyi was released in 2010 and led her National League for Democracy (NLD) to a sweeping election victory in 2015. However, constitutional restrictions prevented her from becoming president, forcing her to govern as state counsellor.
The junta has pledged to hold new elections later this year, though many former NLD supporters, some of whom have now taken up arms, are expected to boycott the vote.
If released, Aris believes his mother would likely step away from frontline politics.
