Husband of Burma's Suu Kyi is dead

MICHAEL ARIS, the husband of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has died of cancer without fulfilling his final wish to visit his wife for the last time.

The Oxford academic lost his battle against prostate cancer, which had spread to his lungs and spine, yesterday at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford on his 53rd birthday.

Human rights groups had campaigned to persuade the military regime in Burma to grant Mr Aris a visa on humanitarian grounds to visit his wife, who is the opposition leader.

Ms Suu Kyi is understood to have accepted the death of her husband, an expert in Tibetan and Himalayan studies, "calmly and serenely" and is being comforted by friends and supporters. She issued a brief statement through diplomats thanking those who had helped her husband throughout his illness.

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