Myanmar military denies request for outside medical help for former leader
Aung San Suu Kyi is ill and Myanmar’s military rulers have denied a request for an outside physician to see the jailed former leader, according to a source familiar with the matter.
After spending some time at an undisclosed ministerial residence in Nay Pyi Taw following her transfer to house arrest in July, the 78-year-old Nobel laureate is now reportedly back in prison, senior members of her National League for Democracy party, told The Irrawaddy, a local news site.
It is not known when she was sent back to prison.
“She was suffering swelling in her gums and could not eat well and is feeling light-headed along with vomiting,” a source, who declined to be identified due to fear of arrest, told Reuters.
But instead of being allowed a visit from a dentist, she has been treated by a prisons department doctor, said the source.
A spokesperson for the State Administration Council, as the junta is known, told local reporters the detained leader was fine and receiving treatment.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since early 2021, when the military overthrew the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi and cracked down on opponents of military rule. More than 4,000 civilians have been killed and nearly 20,000 remain in detention, according to local rights groups.
Aung San Suu Kyi is facing 27 years of detention related to 19 criminal offences. She denies all the charges for which she was convicted, ranging from incitement and election fraud to corruption, and has been appealing against them.
In July, she was moved to house arrest from prison in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw. But she was sent back to solitary confinement in Nay Pyi Taw Prison sometime after her meeting with former Thai foreign minister Don Pramudwinai that same month, The Irrawaddy reported.
The exiled National Unity Government (NUG), set up by opponents of military rule and the remnants of the previous government, said the healthcare and security of political detainees is the responsibility of the military junta.
“The international community should pressure the junta for the healthcare and security of all the political detainees including Aung San Suu Kyi,” Kyaw Zaw, spokesperson for the NUG, told Reuters.
Journalist gets 20 years
In a related development, a photojournalist has been jailed for a total of 20 years, according to his employer, Myanmar Now.
Sai Zaw Thaike had been indicted on four charges, including breaching a natural disaster law and a telecommunications law, the independent news agency said.
It said it was not clear on what charges he had been convicted.
Myanmar Now editor-in-chief Swe Win said all of Sai Zaw Thaike’s colleagues were saddened by the lengthy sentence.
“His sentencing is yet another indication that freedom of the press has been completely quashed under the military junta’s rule, and shows the hefty price independent journalists in Myanmar must pay for their professional work,” he said in a statement.
Sai Zaw Thaike was arrested on May 23 while covering the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha, which hit Rakhine state and neighbouring Bangladesh, killing more than 100 people.
He had been held in pre-trial detention since his arrest, without access to a lawyer and denied family visits, according to the statement on the Myanmar Now Facebook page
A junta spokesman could not be reached for comment.
Myanmar Now had its licence revoked shortly after the coup, along with dozens of other local outlets deemed critical of the military.
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