Jailed former leader ailing but denied care outside prison

BANGKOK (AP):

Myanmar’s imprisoned former leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is suffering from symptoms of low blood pressure including dizziness and loss of appetite, but has been denied treatment at qualified facilities outside the prison system, a medical worker said Thursday.

Suu Kyi, 78, who was arrested in February 2021 when the army seized power from her elected government, fell ill late last month, said the medical worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of being punished by the military authorities.

Separately, a military officer who also insisted on anonymity confirmed a report by the BBC’s Myanmar-language service that Suu Kyi was suffering a severe toothache that left her unable to eat and caused vomiting. However, the ruling military council’s spokesperson, Major General Zaw Min Tun, said Suu Kyi was in good health, the report said.

The BBC said Suu Kyi’s son Kim Aris, who lives in Britain, responded to the report with a text saying, “To deny a sick prisoner access to recommended medical care is callous and cruel.”

Phone calls by the AP to Myanmar’s prison department for comment went unanswered.

Suu Kyi is serving a combined 27-year sentence after being convicted of a string of criminal charges that her supporters and independent analysts say were concocted to discredit her and legitimise the military’s seizure of power.

She initially received a total sentence of 33 years, but Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the military government, granted her clemency in five cases and cut her sentence by six years as part of a broader amnesty for more than 7,000 prisoners to mark a Buddhist religious holiday in August.

Suu Kyi receives full-time medical care from a doctor assigned to the main prison in the capital, Naypyitaw, whose duties included taking her blood pressure at least three times a day when she fell ill last month, the medical worker said.