Six arrested for association with Arakan Army amid fighting

Arrests come as UN rights envoy urged military not to target civilians.

The court at Buthidaung Township (Photo by Phyo Thiha Cho/ Myanmar Now)

BUTHIDAUNG -- Authorities have arrested at least six men in Rakhine state this month on suspicion of associating with the Arakan Army (AA), amid fighting that has displaced at least 5,000 civilians.

The most recent known arrest was of Aung Tun Sein, a 10-household head from Alae Chaung village in northern Rakhine.

He was detained on January 20 under the controversial Unlawful Associations Act, upper house MP Maung Kyaw Zan told Myanmar Now.

The military made the names of four of the men public in a January 15 statement, while the lawmaker confirmed the other two arrests.

The arrests came as the UN’s human rights envoy to Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, urged the government and military not to target Rakhine civilians.

“The ethnic Rakhine population must not be demonised and targeted by the military on suspicion of association with the AA,” she said in a January 18 statement.

The Tatmadaw’s January 15 statement said four villagers were charged after interrogations revealed that they had been reporting the activities of Tatmadaw security officers to the AA. It also said accused two of the villagers had collected protection money on behalf of AA.

Maung Kyaw Zan said there had been previous cases in the area of people being charged “because of external pressure. I don’t want that to happen again,” he said.

But he added: “If they really violated the law, then they must be charged.”

The NLD government asked the military to “crush” the AA after its attacks on police posts killed 13 on January 4, a government spokesperson said earlier this month.

Lee said she was “seriously concerned about the dangerous rhetoric being used by the government.”

Aung Tun Sein was arrested while sheltering with 260 others at a monastery in Don Thein village, a week after he fled fighting in Alae Chaung village.

The other three accused of having connections with Arakan Army (AA) were Thayat Pin village administrator U Maung Tun Hlaing and the villagers Maung Kyaw Win and U Aung Htay, he said.

Ko Zaw Win Tun, Aung Tun Sein’s son, said his father and other villagers were interrogated at the local police station several times before his arrest.

“I’m worried about him,” he said.

Battalion Commander U Aung Kyaw Zaw, of Maungdaw district’s Security Police Battalion Number 3, said he did not have an update on the case when contacted by Myanmar Now.

Photo caption: The court at Buthidaung Township (Photo by Phyo Thiha Cho/ Myanmar Now)

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Regime’s forces threaten to shoot into people’s homes unless residents remove roadblocks

Some have complied with the order but others say they are leaving the barricades up

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 17, 2021

Police and soldiers patrolled neighbourhoods in Yangon and Mandalay on Wednesday and threatened to shoot into people’s houses unless locals removed defensive roadblocks they had set up amid spiralling one-sided violence.

A video of the coup regime’s forces making the threats through a loudspeaker circulated on social media and residents from several different neighbourhoods later told Myanmar Now they had received similar threats.

“The next time we see barricades on roads, we will turn this entire residential quarter upside down and shoot,” a voice said in the video.

The regime’s forces came to Khaymarthi Road and Nweni Road in Yangon’s North Okkalapa township in the afternoon to demand the removal of barricades, residents there told Myanmar Now.

“We did not remove the barricades, so they are still on the roads,” one resident said. “We only set up the barricades in our quarter. If they didn’t not shoot, we wouldn’t need barricades. But now they’re shooting, so it is more appropriate for the people to block the roads.”

A woman living in Hlaing Tharyar township, which this week witnessed the biggest massacre so far by regime forces since the February 1 coup, said locals removed the barricades from major roads after soldiers threatened to shoot into people’s homes.

She then saw military trucks driving around the township, she added.

On Wednesday morning the regime’s forces detained people and forced them to clear sandbags and other barricades on major roads elsewhere in Yangon, according to social media posts by people who said they were detained.

The junta’s security forces made similar threats in South Okkalapa, Thingangyun and Tamwe townships in Yangon and Manawramman Quarter in Mandalay, residents said.

Myanmar Now

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More than 300 students detained in Tamwe in early March hit with 505a charge

Families and lawyers are still being kept in the dark about the status of court proceedings against them

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 17, 2021

University students and young people have been playing a leading role in the nationwide protests against the military coup on Februrary 1. (Myanmar Now)

The regime has charged more than 300 students who were detained at a protest in Tamwe on March 3 after keeping their families in the dark about their status for two weeks.

They were detained as police and soldiers used tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition to attack a march organised by the University of Yangon Students’ Union and the All Burma Federation of Student Unions.

At least five were injured by rubber bullets during the attack. Police initially detained 389 people but last week released 50 who are under the age of 18.

The students have been charged under section 505a of the Penal Code, which the junta recently amended to give prison sentences of up to three years for causing fear, spreading fake news or agitating against government employees.

Lawyers say they have been unable to obtain an exact list of names of those being held and that police have been evasive regarding the case.

“The person in charge of the case was not present. We were told that he went to the court,” one of the lawyers said. “We can’t reach him via phone, so we followed him to Tamwe court, but there was no one at the court except security.”

Parents have been informed about the charges but not the details of the court proceedings, the lawyer said.

Because the military junta has shut down mobile internet, court proceedings have been adjourned as video conferencing is not available. In-person hearings were stopped last year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We, the Students’ Union, do not believe in their judicial process and therefore we do not recognize these court proceedings as legitimate,” a student activist said, requesting anonymity. “The Students’ Union will continue to fight to topple the military regime.”

Among those detained on March 3 was Wai Yan Phyo Moe, Vice President of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions.

Three members of the central executive committee of the Yangon University Students’ Union were also arrested. They are Phone Htet Naung, Aung Phone Maw, and Lay Pyay Soe Moe.

The majority of those detained are from various universities in Yangon, with 176 being students of Yangon University. A few are from universities in rural areas of Myanmar.

Hundreds of other students have also been arrested at protests in Mandalay and Magway, on February 28 and March 7. Only 19 of them have been released.

Myanmar Now

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One person dead in crackdown to help captured informant

The fatal shooting came as locals in Sagaing region were punishing a man believed to be informing on protesters

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 17, 2021

Kyaw Min Tun, 41, was killed on March 16 after police opened fire on protesters in a bid to rescue a suspected informant. (Supplied)

An anti-coup protester was killed in Kawlin, Sagaing region, on Tuesday after police fired on a group of people who had detained a man suspected of acting as a regime informant.

Kyaw Min Tun, 41, was shot and killed after about 50 police arrived to rescue the suspected informant.

“The snitch was taking photos and calling the military to give them information. A woman overheard his phone call,” a Kawlin resident told Myanmar Now.

“Everyone surrounded and captured him. While they were shaving his head, the police showed up and started shooting at the crowd. A person was shot and killed,” the local added.

The person alleged to be an informant was identified as Chit Ngwe, a member of the Kawlin District Military Council. He was reportedly making a phone call at the time of his capture.

Witnesses said that police offered no warning before they started shooting.

Kyaw Min Tun was shot in the side and died immediately, witnesses said. The native of Min Ywa, a village in Kawlin township, had arrived in Kawlin in the morning to join an anti-coup march.

A young protester was also arrested during the incident, local residents said.

When local people started showing up in front of the Kawlin police station to demand the release of the arrested protester, a combined force of soldiers and police cracked down again.

Two civilians were injured in the process, residents said.