King Charles sends Aung Sang Suu Kyi books - Myanmar government
Nay Pyi Taw has released rare photographs of Suu Kyi receiving the books along with a sealed letter.
King Charles III has sent two books to detained Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s military government said on Monday, releasing photographs showing officials delivering the books and a sealed letter to her.
Suu Kyi, 81, has been held since the military removed her government in 2021 and jailed her on charges widely regarded as fabricated.
Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing is trying to end Myanmar’s international isolation after being named president in an election broadly condemned as neither free nor fair.
Min Aung Hlaing, who is barred from western countries and accused of crimes against humanity, has been on a diplomatic push across Asia and is also in talks with the US.
The books given to Suu Kyi were identified as Soil to Table by British gardeners Bridget Elworthy and Henrietta Courtauld, and Soil: The World at Our Feet, the catalogue for an exhibition held in London last year.
Soil to Table has been described as “a celebration of soil and its connection to the food we eat”.
Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her non-violent fight for democracy in Myanmar, is known to have been reading extensively in prison, especially about religion and nature.
Suu Kyi, who was originally sentenced to 33 years in prison after the military coup, was moved to house arrest in June.
In August, the government released photographs of her with a representative from the International Committee of the Red Cross, the first confirmed foreign contact with her since a letter to her son Kim Aris two-and-a-half years ago.
London-based Kim Aris, who has spent years campaigning for his mother’s release, welcomed the news at the time and said Suu Kyi appeared to be “in good health” based on the photographs.