Aung San Suu Kyi meets Red Cross delegation in Myanmar

Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been allowed to meet a delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross, giving her family the first confirmed outside contact with her in more than two years and the clearest public sign yet that she is alive and appears well.

Photographs released by Myanmar’s military-backed government show Suu Kyi, 81, shaking hands with Arnaud de Baecque, the ICRC’s resident representative in Myanmar, in a sparsely furnished, wood-paneled room in the capital, Naypyitaw. The ICRC confirmed the meeting took place Monday and said it “included the opportunity” to speak with her in private.

Government spokeswoman Khine Khine Soe announced the meeting on Telegram, according to NPR. No details were released about Suu Kyi’s health or what was discussed. In the images, she appears relaxed and well.

Her younger son, Kim Aris, who is based in London, told NPR the photographs gave him “a reason to hope” for the first time since the military ousted her government in 2021.

“I hope this is the beginning of transparency, humanitarian access and, ultimately, my mother’s freedom,” Aris said in an email to NPR. “But hope is not proof, and one meeting cannot answer the questions my family has lived with since the coup.”

Suu Kyi was detained shortly after Myanmar’s armed forces deposed her elected government in 2021. She was later sentenced to 33 years in prison on charges widely viewed as trumped up. Her sentence has since been reduced, and authorities said in late April that she had been moved to house arrest after a military-orchestrated election installed junta chief Min Aung Hlaing as president.

For years, the military has said Suu Kyi was alive and in good health, but it had not provided convincing public evidence. The BBC reported that the meeting with the Red Cross delegation was her first confirmed contact with anyone outside the government since a letter to her son two and a half years ago, and her first confirmed meeting with anyone outside the government in nearly four years.

Aris and Myanmar democracy activists have campaigned for proof of life and information about her condition. Aris said the ICRC had not yet briefed him on her health or the meeting, despite the organization saying such visits provide an opportunity “to exchange news with their families.”

“It gave me hope, but I remain cautious,” Aris said of the photographs, calling them “deeply emotional.” He added: “Now that hope must be matched by transparency, compassion and meaningful action.”

NPR reported that two additional images released by the authorities appear to show an earlier occasion: Suu Kyi’s 81st birthday in June. One shows her cutting a pink cake inscribed, “Happy Birthday Aunty Suu, 19.6.2026.” In those images, she wears a different outfit, with a clothes rack and storage boxes visible.

The meeting comes as Myanmar’s military-backed government faces pressure from neighboring countries and fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations members to grant international access to Suu Kyi. Since the 2021 coup, which triggered a civil war that NPR said has killed an estimated 100,000 people and displaced millions, no foreign leader or envoy had publicly met her.

Thomas Kean, a senior consultant on Myanmar at the International Crisis Group, told NPR the military likely allowed the meeting because Min Aung Hlaing wants Myanmar welcomed back into ASEAN. “Min Aung Hlaing is just about to head to Thailand, which has been pushing hard for normalisation with Myanmar and will likely cite this as a positive step,” Kean said. He cautioned, however, that it does not signal progress toward ending the conflict.

At most, Kean said, “it shows Aung San Suu Kyi is alive and that she appears to be in reasonable health.”

The BBC reported that Myanmar’s military leadership is facing demands to stop aerial bombardment of opposition-held areas, start negotiations to end the civil war and release Suu Kyi. The military has so far rejected those calls, but the release of images from the meeting suggests it may be willing to move on international access to her.

Repression continues inside Myanmar. NPR reported that a Yangon court in July sentenced Saw Naing, a former lawmaker, to three years in prison for marking Suu Kyi’s birthday with a religious ceremony and calling for her release. Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the anti-junta National Unity Government, told NPR that armed opposition forces would “continue to fight until the objectives of the revolution are achieved,” including Suu Kyi’s release.