Myanmar’s government-in-exile says Suu Kyi’s detention a stark reminder of brutal junta rule: ‘Inhumane’
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Exclusive: National Unity Government hopes Independent TV documentary on ousted leader ‘will wake up international community’ to repression in country. The release of Aung San Suu Kyi and around 20,000 fellow political prisoners will be the most crucial step towards ending the conflict in Myanmar, the country’s government-in-exile has said.
![[Aung San Suu Kyi]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/18/15/adsdaJoe-Freeman-Cut-Down.00_05_33_07.Still004-copy.jpg)
The National Unity Government, or NUG, which comprises former lawmakers from various parties and is leading the political opposition to the military junta that seized power in a 2021 coup, has raised concerns about Ms Suu Kyi’s health. “Aung San Suu Kyi is arbitrarily detained. She is in isolation and it is inhumane for a 79-year-old lady who has sacrificed so much for her country,” Kyaw Zaw, a spokesperson for NUG, said.
![[Three former British foreign secretaries have called for Aung San Suu Kyi’s release]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/18/17/shutterstock_editorial_191332a.jpg)
He was responding to the documentary, Cancelled: The Rise and Fall of Aung San Suu Kyi, released by Independent TV. The film charts the political journey of Myanmar’s former leader who was thrust into the political spotlight in the 1980s and spent many years in jail for advocating democratic rule in the country.
![[Members of the rebel Mandalay People’s Defence Force pose for a photograph in front of the gate of a captured army battalion in Mogok township, Myanmar, on 25 July 2024]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/10/28/04/Myanmar_Fighting_94430.jpg)
Mr Zaw said the military junta’s rule has led to an “unprecedented humanitarian crisis” in northern Rakhine State where intense fighting between the army and an ethnic rebel group has reportedly displaced millions of people. Ms Suu Kyi, who was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, has been held in detention, likely solitary confinement, since the coup overthrew her democratically elected government in February 2021 and plunged the country into crisis.
