CHIANG MAI — The son of Aung San Suu Kyi has told NPR that rare new pictures of the detained former Myanmar leader released by the country’s military have given them renewed hope over her well-being.

Kim Aris, the younger son of Suu Kyi, said photographs released Monday of his mother meeting the head of an international humanitarian group gave him “a reason to hope” for the first time since the military coup that ousted her in 2021.

After years of enforced isolation, Suu Kyi met with Arnaud de Baecque, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)’s resident representative in Myanmar, in the capital Naypyitaw on Monday, according to government spokeswoman Khine Khine Soe, who announced the meeting via Telegram. The ICRC confirmed in a statement it took place and “included the opportunity” to speak in private with her.

Photographs released alongside the announcement show Suu Kyi shaking hands with de Baecque in a sparsely furnished, wood-paneled room.

“I hope this is the beginning of transparency, humanitarian access and, ultimately, my mother’s freedom,” said Aris – who is based in London – in an email to NPR. “But hope is not proof, and one meeting cannot answer the questions my family has lived with since the coup.”

Reports by Myanmar’s military regarding Suu Kyi have long been treated with scepticism, as she has been held incommunicado since her arrest – a move that has silenced the most popular politician in the country of 55 million people. Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

Two additional images appear to be from an earlier occasion: Suu Kyi’s 81st birthday in June. One image shows her cutting a pink cake inscribed “Happy Birthday Aunty Suu, 19.6.2026”. In those images, Suu Kyi is wearing a different outfit, with a clothes rack and storage boxes visible.

In this photo released by Myanmar President Office on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026, Myanmar ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi cuts a birthday cake during her meeting with Arnaud de Baecque, resident representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar.

Myanmar President Office/AP

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Myanmar President Office/AP

Aris and Myanmar democracy activists have spent years demanding proof his mother is alive and well. Aris said the ICRC had not yet briefed him on her health or the meeting, despite the ICRC saying such visits provide the opportunity “to exchange news with their families”. The ICRC did not respond to NPR’s questions immediately.