‘It’s time to free my mother completely’: Aung San Suu Kyi’s son slams her partial pardon

The youngest son of Aung San Suu Kyi has demanded the Myanmar military give his mother “complete freedom” as she continues to face the prospect of being detained for the rest of her life despite the junta reducing her prison sentence.

Kim Aris has expressed deep scepticism about the military’s latest announcement, accusing the government of playing “political games” and saying they would continue to fight for justice.

Ms Suu Kyi, 78, was pardoned for five out of 19 charges, but her sentence has only been reduced by six years, bringing it down from 33 years to 27. It is a sentence that has been widely derided by the international community as an attempt to discredit her and legitimise the military takeover while preventing the ousted leader from returning to politics.

Speaking to The Independent, Mr Aris – a British national – said: “We fight on to see my mother find freedom. She is jailed illegally on trumped-up charges. We know the military play politics and games with her. Nothing less than her complete freedom is acceptable.

“She is a courageous symbol of freedom and democracy still shining brightly in a dark regime. The world awaits and must demand freedom and justice for her.”

Mr Aris and his elder brother have largely been separated from their mother since she moved from the UK to Myanmar in 1988 to look after her mother and ended up staying. As the daughter of General Aung San – the nation’s founder who was assassinated in 1947 – she formed a pro-democracy movement against the military dictatorship.

Ms Suu Kyi was not allowed to leave the country to see her British husband before he died of cancer in 1999 and Mr Aris did not see his mother again until 2010.

The head of Myanmar’s military council, General Min Aung Hlaing, granted today’s clemency order to reduce the sentences in five cases against Ms Suu Kyi in which she was convicted for allegedly violating coronavirus restrictions, illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies, and sedition, according to a report on the state-run MRTV.

A close ally of Ms Suu Kyi told The Independent: “More meaningless words from the military. They are still playing the political game but we are still fighting for her freedom.”

The mother of two has always denied all the charges against her, ranging from incitement and election fraud to corruption, and has been appealing against them.

Many governments have called for her unconditional release along with thousands of others who were detained in a bloody crackdown that the junta unleashed against pro-democracy protests following the coup in 2021.

Several of her cases are awaiting final appeals.

Former president Win Myint, who was arrested at the same time as Ms Suu Kyi after the coup two years ago, was also pardoned on some offences by the military government, reducing his jail term from 12 years to eight. He had faced eight cases, but this has been reduced to six.

An informed source said both would remain in detention.

“She won’t be free from house arrest,” said the source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Gen Hlaing also granted amnesty to 125 foreign prisoners and 22 members of ethnic armed groups, it added. The announcement said the army leader dropped cases against 72 people connected to ethnic armed groups.

The day before the clemency announcement, state TV said it was necessary to extend the state of emergency for another six months because there is still a lot of work to be done to return the country to normalcy and time is needed to prepare for an election. That proposed election will now be delayed by that extension.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights-monitoring organisation, 24,123 people have been arrested in Myanmar since the army takeover. Security forces have killed at least 3,857 civilians in the same period, the group says.

Daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero, Ms Suu Kyi was first put under house arrest in 1989 after massive protests against decades of military rule, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her championing of democracy. She was only fully released from house arrest in 2010.

Known and beloved in much of Myanmar as “the Lady”, she fulfilled the dreams of millions when her party won a landslide election in 2015 that gave elected politicians power for the first time in 50 years. Her party then won the next election in November 2020.

But Ms Suu Kyi appalled global leaders only two years later by denying the extent of a sweeping military-led crackdown against the Rohingya minority which forced hundreds of thousands to flee the country.

The military complained of election fraud after the 2020 vote and said it had to take power in early 2021 to ensure that the complaints were investigated. Ms Suu Kyi’s party rejected the accusations of election fraud.

Following the coup and her arrest in February 2021, Ms Suu Kyi was initially held at her official residence in the capital under house arrest before being moved to an undisclosed location widely believed to be on an army base. She was again transferred, this time to prison on 22 June 2022.