Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi reunited with son

Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has met her son Kim Aris after 11 years.

Suu Kyi arrived at Yangon International Airport early in the morning to pick up her son who arrived from Bangkok.

Warning: this video contains flash photography

It is thought Kim, now 33, last came to Burma to see his mother in April 1999.

Kim had arrived in Bangkok a few days before his mother was released from house arrest on November 13.

One of her lawyers, Nyan Win, said Suu Kyi is thankful to authorities for granting her son a visa.

Suu Kyi, 1991 Nobel laureate and daughter of assassinated national hero General Aung San, has been the leader for the fight for democracy in Myanmar.

Her National League for Democracy, won the country’s 1990 elections by a landslide but was never allowed to take up seats in parliament.

Freedom

Aung San Suu Kyi has been under some form of detention for 15 of the past 21 years.

Her release, on November 13, was greeted with euphoria in Burma.

Prime Minister David Cameron said at the time her house arrest was “a travesty”, and her release long overdue.

At a rally the day after her release in Aung San Suu Kyi told supporters “If my people are not free, how can you say I’m free?”

Elections

Burma’s elections earlier this month were decried by Western nations as a sham designed to perpetuate authoritarian control.

The vote saw violent clashes between ethnic minority rebels and Government police.

In a speech to the Indian Parliament during his visit to New Delhi, the US President Barack Obama condemned the conduct of the election process in Burma.

State TV said voters cast their ballots “freely and happily” but witness accounts suggest there were severe irregularities and a low turn-out.