• Nobel Peace Laureate’s health failing, says son Kim Aris.
• Upcoming “sham” election could prompt her release: Aris
• Aris urges Japan, other govt to up pressure on junta. 

With her health failing and an information vacuum around Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her son worries that he may not even know if she passed away.

Kim Aris told Reuters he has not heard from his 80-year-old mother in years, and has received only sporadic, secondhand details about her heart, bone and gum problems since a 2021 military coup that deposed her government.

And while he rejects attempts by Myanmar’s junta to hold elections later this month, dismissed by many foreign governments as a sham aimed at legitimising military rule, he says it could provide an opening to ease his mother’s plight.

“She’s got ongoing health issues. Nobody has seen her in over two years. She hasn’t been allowed contact with her legal team, never mind her family,” he said in an interview in Tokyo. “For all I know, she could be dead already.”

“I imagine (Myanmar junta leader) Min Aung Hlaing has his own agenda when it comes to my mother. If he does want to use her to try and appease the general population before or after the elections by either releasing her or moving her to house arrest, then at least that would be something,” he added.

A Myanmar junta spokesman did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Myanmar’s military has a history of releasing prisoners to mark holidays or important events.

Nobel Peace Laureate Suu Kyi was freed in 2010 days after an election, ending a previous long period of detention largely spent at her colonial-style family home on Yangon’s Inya Lake.

She went on to become Myanmar’s de-facto leader after elections in 2015, the first openly contested vote in a quarter century, though her international image was later tarnished by accusations of genocide committed against her country’s Muslim Rohingya minority.

‘Small window of opportunity’

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the 2021 coup, which triggered an armed rebellion that has captured swathes of territory across the country.

Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence for offences including incitement, corruption and election fraud, all of which she denies.

Aris said he believes she is being held in the capital Naypyitaw, and in the last letter he received from his mother two years ago she complained about the extreme temperatures in her cell during the summer and winter months.

With conflicts erupting all over the world, Aris worries that people are forgetting about Myanmar.

He is trying to capitalise on the upcoming elections — the first since the coup which are set to be held in phases from December 28 — to get foreign governments like Japan to exert more pressure on the junta and call for his mother’s release.

“Because of the upcoming elections that the military are trying to stage, which we all know are completely unfair, and so far from being free that it would be laughable if it wasn’t so lamentable, I need to use this small window of opportunity,” he said.

“In the past, when my mother was held in higher regard by the international community, then it was much harder for people to ignore what’s happening in Burma. But since her position was undermined through the crisis in Rakhine, that’s no longer the case,” he added, using the country’s former name.

Aris, a British national who kept a low profile until a few years ago, maintains his mother was “not complicit” in what the United Nations called a genocidal campaign by the military against the Rohingya in Rakhine state in 2016-17.

While she was de-facto leader, Myanmar’s constitution limited Suu Kyi’s power over the military. She admitted that war crimes may have been committed at an international tribunal in The Hague in 2020 but denied genocide.

During his trip to Japan, Aris said he met with various Japanese politicians and government officials to press them to take a stronger stand against the junta and reject the elections.

Asked what his mother would think of his efforts, he said: “I think she’d be incredibly sad that I’ve had to do this. She’s always wanted me to not have to get involved. But I don’t really have a choice at the moment. I am her son after all. And if I’m not doing it, I can’t expect anybody else to do it.”

• Two Daesh flags were found in the gunmen’s vehicle: state media.
• Gunmen identified as father-son duo Sajid Akram and Naveed Akram.
• PM hints at considering limits on weapons permitted by licence.

SYDNEY: Australia signalled plans for tougher gun laws on Monday as the country began mourning victims of its worst mass shooting in almost 30 years, in which a father and son duo killed 15 people at a Jewish celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.

The father, a 50-year-old, was killed at the scene, taking the number of dead to 16, while his 24-year-old son was in critical condition in hospital, police said at a press conference on Monday.

As many as 40 people were taken to hospital following the attack, including two police officers who are in serious but stable condition, police said. The victims were aged between 10 and 87.

Police did not release the shooters’ names, but said the father had held a firearms license since 2015 and had six registered weapons. One of the suspected attackers was known to authorities but had not been deemed an immediate threat, security officials said.

They were identified as Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram by state broadcaster ABC and other local media outlets.

Home Minister Tony Burke said the father arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa, while his son is an Australian-born citizen.

Police did not provide details about the firearms, but videos from the scene showed the men firing what appeared to be a bolt-action rifle and a shotgun.

“We are very much working through the background of both persons. At this stage, we know very little about them,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told reporters.

Two Daesh flags were found in the gunmen’s vehicle, Australia’s national broadcaster ABC News said in a report, without citing any source.

The shooting has raised questions about whether Australia’s gun laws, already among the toughest in the world, remain fit for purpose.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would ask cabinet to consider limits on the number of weapons permitted by a gun licence, and how long a licence should last.

“People’s circumstances can change,” he told reporters.

“People can be radicalised over a period of time. Licences should not be in perpetuity.”

Hero bystander

Witnesses said the attack at the famed beach, which was packed on a hot weekend evening, lasted about 10 minutes, sending about 1,000 people attending a Hanukkah event scattering along the sand and into nearby streets.

A bystander captured on video tackling and disarming an armed man during the attack has been hailed as a hero whose actions saved lives. 7News Australia named him as Ahmed al Ahmed, citing a relative, who said the 43-year-old fruit shop owner had been shot twice and had undergone surgery.

A fundraising page for the man had raised more than A$550,000 ($365,000) by Monday afternoon.

Bondi local Morgan Gabriel, 27, said she had been heading to a nearby cinema when she heard what she thought were fireworks, before people started running up her street.

“I sheltered about six or seven. Two of them were actually my close friends, and the rest were just people that were on the street … their phones had been left down the beach, and everyone was just trying to get away,” she said.

“It’s a very sad time this morning [….] Normally, like on a Monday or any morning, it’s packed. People are swimming, surfing, running. So this is very, very quiet. And there’s definitely a solemn sort of vibe.”

A makeshift memorial with flowers and Israeli and Australian flags was set up at the Bondi pavilion and an online condolence book was established.

Police and private Jewish security guards wearing earpieces were positioned around as mourners paid respects and laid flowers.

‘Pure evil’

Authorities said they were confident only two attackers were involved in the incident, after previously saying they were checking whether a third offender was involved.

At the suspects’ home in Bonnyrigg, a suburb around 36 kilometres (22 miles) west of the central business district, there was a heavy police presence on Monday, with a cordon wrapping around several neighbouring houses.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Bondi Beach on Monday morning to lay flowers near the scene of the attack.

“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location,” Albanese told reporters.

“The Jewish community are hurting today. Today, all Australians wrap our arms around them and say, we stand with you. We will do whatever is necessary to stamp out antisemitism. It is a scourge, and we will eradicate it together.”

Albanese said several world leaders including US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron had reached out and offered condolences and support.

Sunday’s shootings were the most serious in a string of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars in Australia since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had warned Albanese that Australia’s support for Palestinian statehood would fuel antisemitism.

In August, Australia accused Iran of directing at least two antisemitic attacks and gave Tehran’s ambassador a week to leave the country.

‘Rare’ mass shooting

Mass shootings are rare in Australia, one of the world’s safest countries. Sunday’s attack was the worst since 1996, when a gunman killed 35 people at the Port Arthur tourist site in the southern island state of Tasmania.

Rabbi Mendel Kastel, whose brother-in-law Eli Schlanger was killed in Sunday’s attack, said it had been a harrowing evening.

“You can very easily become very angry and try to blame people, turn on people but that’s not what this is about. It’s about a community,” he said.

“We need to step up at a time like this, be there for each other, and come together. And we will, and we will get through this, and we know that. The Australian community will help us do it,” he added.

Local woman Danielle, who declined to give her surname, was at the beach when the shooting occurred and raced to collect her daughter, who was attending a bar mitzvah at a function centre near where the alleged shooters were positioned.

“I heard there was a shooting so I bolted there to get my daughter, I could hear gunshots, I saw bodies on the ground. We are used to being scared, we have felt this way since October 7.”

Australia’s Jewish diaspora is small but deeply embedded in the wider community, with about 150,000 people who identify as Jewish in the country of 27 million. About one-third of them are estimated to live in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, including Bondi.

The 50-year-old father was killed at the scene, bringing the death toll to 16, while his 24-year-old son remains in critical condition in hospital, police said during a Monday press briefing. Officials have described the Sunday shooting as a deliberate antisemitic attack.

At least 40 people are still hospitalized, including two police officers in serious but stable condition. The victims ranged in age from 10 to 87.

Witnesses reported that the attack, which unfolded over roughly 10 minutes on a busy evening at the popular beach, caused panic as hundreds of people fled across the sand and into surrounding streets and parks.

Police noted that around 1,000 attendees had gathered for the Hanukkah event, which was held in a small park adjacent to Bondi Beach.

A bystander captured on video tackling and disarming an armed man during the attack has been hailed as a hero whose actions saved lives.

Bondi local Morgan Gabriel, 27, said she had been heading to a nearby cinema when she heard what she thought were fireworks, before people started running up her street.

“I sheltered about six or seven. Two of them were actually my close friends, and the rest were just people that were on the street. But people, their phones had been left down the beach, and everyone was just trying to get away,” she said.

“It’s a very sad time this morning… Normally, like on a Monday or any morning, it’s packed. People are swimming, surfing, running. So this is very, very quiet. And there’s definitely a solemn sort of vibe.”

World leaders condemn attack

Authorities said they were confident only two attackers were involved in the incident, after previously saying they were checking whether a third offender was involved.

Police investigations are ongoing, and police numbers have been increased in Jewish communities.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Bondi Beach on Monday morning and laid flowers near the scene of the attack, while some mourners wearing kippah, or skullcaps worn by some Jewish men, were seen placing candles and setting up tribute sites.

Albanese earlier called the attack a “dark moment for our nation,” and said police and security agencies were thoroughly checking the motive behind the attack.

“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location,” Albanese told reporters.

“The Jewish community are hurting today. Today, all Australians wrap our arms around them and say, we stand with you. We will do whatever is necessary to stamp out antisemitism. It is a scourge, and we will eradicate it together.”

Albanese said several world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, had reached out, and he thanked them for their solidarity.

“In Australia, there was a terrible attack … and that was an antisemitic attack obviously,” Trump said during a Christmas reception at the White House on Sunday, paying his respects to victims of the attack at Bondi and another shooting at Rhode Island’s Brown University.

Sunday’s shootings were the most serious in a string of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars in Australia since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had warned Albanese that Australia’s support for Palestinian statehood would fuel antisemitism.

Saw bodies on the ground

Hundreds of police personnel were at Bondi Beach on Monday as the suburb’s main road remained closed after being declared a crime scene.

Rabbi Mendel Kastel, whose brother-in-law Eli Schlanger was killed in Sunday’s attack, said it had been a harrowing evening.

“You can very easily become very angry and try to blame people, turn on people but that’s not what this is about. It’s about a community,” he said.

“We need to step up at a time like this, be there for each other, and come together. And we will, and we will get through this, and we know that. The Australian community will help us do it,” he added.

Local woman Danielle, who declined to give her surname, was at the beach when the shooting occurred and raced to collect her daughter, who was attending a bar mitzvah at a function centre near where the alleged shooters were positioned.

“I heard there was a shooting so I bolted there to get my daughter, I could hear gunshots, I saw bodies on the ground.

We are used to being scared, we have felt this way since October 7.”

Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.

The attack precipitated Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Australia’s Jewish diaspora is small but deeply embedded in the wider community, with about 150,000 people who identify as Jewish in the country of 27 million. About one-third of them are estimated to live in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, including Bondi.

Major cities, including Berlin, London and New York, stepped up security around Hanukkah events on Sunday following the attack at Bondi.

President, PM slam Sydney attack

In the wake of the attack, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif expressed his condolences to the victims.

In a post on X, he said, “My deepest condolences to the victims of the tragic terrorist attack at Bondi Beach, Sydney.

“Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

“We stand in solidarity with the people and government of Australia in this difficult time.”

President Asif Ali Zardari expressed sorrow over the tragic shooting.

“The president conveyed condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to those injured, including police personnel hurt while responding to the incident,” President’s Secretariat Media Wing said in a press release.

President Zardari said Pakistan, having itself suffered greatly from terrorism, fully understood the pain and trauma such attacks inflict on societies.

He condemned violence against innocent civilians and expressed solidarity with the people and Government of Australia at this difficult time, reiterating Pakistan’s principled stance against terrorism in all its forms.