Myanmar leader Suu Kyi moved to house arrest due to severe heatwave

Myanmar‍‍`s junta has moved jailed democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi from prison to house arrest, a source told AFP on Wednesday.

Separately, a spokesman for the country‍‍`s military authorities said older prisoners were being given "necessary care" during a spell of hot weather, and it was not immediately clear whether the move was temporary or a represented a reduction in the 78-year-old Nobel laureate‍‍`s sentence.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from prison to house arrest as a health measure amid a severe heatwave, the military has said, reports Al Jazeera.

Major General Zaw Min Tun told foreign media on Tuesday that Aung San Suu Kyi and the president of her toppled government, Win Myint, were among the elderly and infirm prisoners transferred from prison.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 78, has been imprisoned by the Myanmar military since it overthrew her government in a coup in 2021.

She has been serving a 27-year prison term in Naypyidaw on a variety of criminal convictions that her supporters and rights groups say were fabricated for political reasons. Win Myint was serving an eight-year prison sentence in Taungoo in Myanmar’s Bago Region.

Myanmar’s meteorological department said Naypyidaw saw temperatures of 39 degrees Celsius (102.2 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday.

Three years since the coup, Myanmar’s military is facing the biggest challenge to its rule as an armed resistance movement, allied with the National Unity Government (NUG) set up by politicians allied to Aung San Suu Kyi, gathers pace on several fronts.

A spokesperson for the NUG on Tuesday called for Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint’s unconditional release.

News of Aung San Suu Kyi’s transfer came as the military also granted amnesty for more than 3,000 prisoners to mark this week’s traditional Thingyan New Year holiday.

State-run MRTV said that the head of the ruling military council, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, had pardoned 3,303 prisoners, including 28 foreigners who will be deported from Myanmar. He also reduced sentences for others.

Mass amnesties on the holiday are not unusual in Myanmar.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which has been monitoring the post-coup crackdown, said in its most recent update on April 12 that some 20,351 people were in detention for opposing the military.