Who is Aung San Suu Kyi?
The story of Aung San Suu Kyi involves - a ruthless military - 20 years under house arrest
and a mum who never got to see her children grow up.
But who is she? Here's what you need to know.
Tens of thousands of people in Myanmar took to the streets in protest
after Aung San Suu Kyi the country’s democratically elected leader was arrested by the country’s military in February 2021.
Many countries around the world have also called for her release.
Aung San Suu Kyi has strong ties with her country, her dad is considered the founding father of modern Myanmar
which was called Burma until the military changed it in 1989.
Burma was a British colony and Aung San Suu Kyi’s father led the calls for independence.
He was assassinated in 1948.
Aung San Suu Kyi was just two years old.
She left the country and lived overseas settling in England where she married and had two children.
Back in Myanmar the military slowly tightened control of the country.
Pro-democracy voices were silenced - there were house arrests.
People were spied on - phones tapped - communication intercepted.
In 1988 Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Myanmar to look after her dying mother.
At the same time ordinary people rose up against the military who controlled the country and
she became the face of the opposition and of democracy in Myanmar.
The army put Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest never explaining what she did wrong.
She lived alone reading books and meditating.
But even though she was cut off from the country her party continued to win elections.
The army just ignored the results.
When her husband in the UK got cancer the military said if she wanted to see him she could
but she would have to leave Burma permanently.
She refused - and she never saw him again.
She also missed out on seeing her two boys grow up.
She became the world’s most prominent prisoner of conscience - that's someone who's jailed - because of what they believe in.
And in 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while still under house arrest.
That's one of the top honours anyone can receive - Mandela and Malala have both been given the prize.
Things started to change in 2007 when Myanmar’s revered monks started to demand political change.
Times were moving on and the military seemed willing to ease their grip.
By 2010 she was freed from house arrest.
In 2015 she became the country's state councillor so the de facto leader.
It meant she was in charge but behind her was the military who never really gave up power.
International support for Aung San Suu Kyi has fractured because of the plight of the minority Rohingya Muslims
who live in the west of the country. The army is widely believed to have massacred thousands of Rohingya people
and driven three quarters of a million more from their homes.
Aung San Suu Kyi was accused of doing little to help the Rohingyas and instead defended the country's army.
The case even went as far as the International Court of Justice.
So she's been severely criticised overseas - and in many parts her reputation has plummeted.
But for huge numbers in Myanmar she remains a hero.
It’s believed the military felt threatened after she won another landslide election in November 2020
and that’s probably why they’ve arrested her again.
One of the reasons they say was because she had illegal walkie-talkies in her possession.
While she remains in house detention thousands of people say they will continue to protest
across Myanmar and on social media despite the military threatening action.
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