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 condition have been difficult to determine, with no foreign leader or envoy having publicly met with her despite requests for contact from countries in the region that have excluded Myanmar’s leadership from their summits.

Suu Kyi met with Arnaud de Baecque, Resident Representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross to Myanmar, in the capital Naypyitaw on Monday, government spokesperson Khine Khine Soe said in a message via Telegram.

The ICRC confirmed that a delegate had met with Suu Kyi, without naming the official, while her son described the visit as the first positive development concerning his mother in more than five years.

In one of four photographs provided by the Myanmar government spokesperson, Suu Kyi is seen dressed in traditional Burmese attire and standing unaided, shaking hands with de Baecque.

In another, they are seated in a sparsely furnished, wood-panelled room containing only two chairs and a desk.

Son urges continued pressure for Suu Kyi’s release

The ICRC said the visit had met with its 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 in a statement, using a Burmese honorific.

Suu Kyi’s son, Kim Aris, told Reuters that the ICRC was not able to have a physician examine his mother but he said she seemed to be in good health and in good spirits.

“It’s the first independent proof that I’ve had that she’s actually alive for a long time now,” he said in London. “So it’s extremely meaningful.”

Aris said that while he remained cautious, he hoped to be able to speak to his mother in time, and urged other governments to keep up the pressure on Myanmar to release her and other political prisoners.

Aris told Reuters in December that he had received only sporadic, second-hand details about his mother’s heart, bone and gum problems — and had not heard from her in years.

The United Nations, whose special envoy on Myanmar, Julie Bishop, has called repeatedly for independent, verifiable reports on Suu Kyi’s circumstances, said it had taken note of the ICRC announcement and stressed the need for inclusive dialogue.

“We welcome this development and reiterate our call for the swift and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained, as a fundamental step towards conditions conducive to a credible and transparent political process,” UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told a daily briefing in New York.

Detained since coup

After a marathon run of secret trials following the 2021 coup, Suu Kyi, who was held under house arrest for a total of 15 years under a previous junta, was sentenced to 33 years’ detention, convicted of charges ranging from corruption and inciting election fraud to violating state secrecy rules.

Her allies maintain that the charges were politically motivated and aimed at sidelining the most popular politician in the country of 51 million people.

The sentence was later reduced, leaving her with 18 years still to serve, according to a member of her legal team.

Myanmar’s military-backed administrations have repeatedly claimed that Suu Kyi, who is the daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero General Aung San, is in “good health”, even as international pressure has grown to allow independent verification.

After a meeting between Myanmar’s foreign minister and counterparts from the regional Asean bloc last month, Thailand’s top diplomat Sihasak Phuangketkeow called for access to Suu Kyi.

Asean has barred Myanmar’s leadership from its top meetings for failure to implement a peace roadmap.

Birthday cake

In late April, following a military-engineered election that allowed former junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to become Myanmar’s president, Suu Kyi was moved to house arrest.

In another of the photos provided by the Myanmar government offering a rare glimpse inside what appears to be her residence, Suu Kyi is seen cutting a birthday cake, 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.