Myanmar’s imprisoned ex-leader Aung San Suu Kyi is ailing
(Reuters) – Myanmar’s jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is ill and a request for an outside doctor to see her has been turned down by the country’s military leaders, a source familiar with the matter and the shadow government loyal to her said on Tuesday .
The 78-year-old Nobel laureate was treated by a prison doctor instead.
“She was suffering from swollen gums, was unable to eat well and is experiencing lightheadedness and vomiting,” said the source, who declined to be named for fear of arrest.
The spokesman for Myanmar’s military junta did not return calls from Reuters.
The Southeast Asian country has been in turmoil since early 2021, when the military toppled Suu Kyi’s elected government and cracked down on opponents of military rule, with thousands jailed or killed.
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Suu Kyi faces 27 years in prison for 19 crimes. She denies and has appealed all the charges she was convicted of, ranging from hate speech and voter fraud to corruption.
In July she was transferred from Naypyitaw Prison to house arrest.
Myanmar’s exiled government of national unity, installed by opponents of military rule and remnants of the previous Suu Kyi government, said health care and security for political prisoners are the responsibility of the military junta.
“The international community should put pressure on the junta to ensure the health care and safety of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi,” Kyaw Zaw, spokesman for the government of national unity, told Reuters.
Many governments have called for the unconditional release of Suu Kyi and thousands of other political prisoners, and some, including the United States, the European Union and Britain, have imposed sanctions on the Southeast Asian country’s military.
(Reporting by Reuters staff)
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