Aug 3 (Reuters) - Myanmar's detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday, after years of questions over the health and well-being of the 81-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Suu Kyi has been in detention since February 2021 when an elected civilian government led by her was ousted by Myanmar's military in a dawn coup, plunging the impoverished Southeast Asian nation into turmoil.
Since then, Suu Kyi's exact whereabouts and health conditions have been difficult to determine, with no foreign leader or envoy having publicly met her.
On Monday, Suu Kyi met with Arnaud de Baecque, Resident Representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to Myanmar in the capital Naypyitaw, government spokeswoman Khine Khine Soe said in a message via Telegram.
In a statement, the ICRC confirmed a delegate had met with Suu Kyi, without naming the official.
"The visit was carried out in accordance with the ICRC’s standards and procedures for visiting people deprived of liberty. This included the opportunity to speak with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in private," it said, using an honorific for the veteran politician.
Detention visits also provide people deprived of liberty with the opportunity to exchange news with their families, the statement added.
In two of the four photographs provided by the government spokeswoman, Suu Kyi, dressed in traditional Burmese attire, is seen meeting with Baecque in a sparsely furnished, wood-paneled room containing only two chairs and a desk.
In another photo, offering a rare glimpse inside what appears to be her residence, Suu Kyi is seen cutting a birthday cake inscribed with her name, with a clothes rack and storage boxes visible in the background.
A fourth photograph is a close-up of the cake, inscribed with "Happy Birthday Aunty Suu 19.6.2026".
Reuters was not able to independently verify the location and the date when the pictures were taken. No earlier version of the pictures was found posted online before Monday.
DETAINED SINCE COUP
After a marathon run of secret trials following the coup, Suu Kyi was sentenced to 33 years, convicted of charges ranging from corruption and inciting election fraud to violating state secrecy rules.
Her allies maintain the charges were politically motivated and aimed at sidelining Suu Kyi, arguably the most popular politician in the country of 51 million people.
The sentence was later reduced to 27 years, and further cut by one-sixth in April, leaving her with 18 years still to serve, according to a member of her legal team.
Suu Kyi's son, Kim Aris, told Reuters in December that he had little information about her health -- receiving only sporadic, second-hand details about his mother's heart, bone and gum problems, and had not heard from her in years, fearing she could die without him knowing.
MOVE TO HOUSE ARREST
Myanmar's military-backed administrations have repeatedly claimed that Suu Kyi is in "good health", even as international pressure has grown on Myanmar's government to allow independent verification of her well-being.
In late April, after a military-engineered election that allowed former junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to become Myanmar's president, authorities said that she had been moved to house arrest.
After a meeting between Myanmar's foreign minister and counterparts from the regional ASEAN bloc in Bangkok last month, Thailand's top diplomat Sihasak Phuangketkeow called for access to Suu Kyi "so that we can be able to verify the claims" of her good health.
But the new military-backed administration has so far been reluctant to provide access to Suu Kyi, including a May request by the Philippines to allow an ASEAN special envoy to meet with the detained leader.
The daughter of the country's independence hero General Aung San, Suu Kyi was held under house arrest for a total of 15 years under a previous junta at her family residence on Yangon's Inya Lake, where she famously gave impassioned speeches to crowds of supporters over the metal gates of the property.
(Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal and Reuters staff; Editing by John Mair, Lincoln Feast and Alexander Smith)
