Nine Kyaukphyu Twsp men accused of AA-related terrorism sentenced to three years in prison

By DMG 21 Jul 2022

DMG Newsroom
21 July 2022, Kyaukphyu 

Nine Kyaukphyu Township men were sentenced to three years in prison each under Section 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law on Thursday, more than two years after they were arrested and accused of having illegal ties to the Arakan Army (AA). 

The Kyaukphyu District Court’s verdict was the latest in a series of recent AA-related rulings made by magistrates under Myanmar’s military regime, at a time of rising tensions between the junta and the Arakanese ethnic armed group.  

“Nine men were sentenced to three years in prison under Section 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law. The judge ordered that the pre-verdict detention period be counted toward time served. I think they will spend another seven months in jail,” said U Kyaw Thura, a lawyer representing the defendants. 

The nine men were allowed to meet with family members at Thursday’s court hearing and they all appeared to be in good health, an elder brother of Zinchaung villager Ko Win Naing told DMG, adding that he did not believe the defendants were guilty. 

The defendants from Kyaukphyu Township — eight residents of Ale Chaung village and one from Zinchaung village — were arrested on July 7, 2020, amid an often-intense armed conflict between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army.  

The nine men are currently being held at Kyaukphyu Prison. 

The Kyaukphyu court’s ruling came after the Sittwe District Court handed down verdicts in separate cases centred on the Ponnagyun Township villages of Kyaukseik and Ai Tin earlier this month. 

The Sittwe District Court on July 20 sentenced two men from Ai Tin village accused of having illegal AA ties to three years in prison under Section 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, more than two years after the pair were arrested. Two weeks earlier, the same Sittwe court sentenced five men from Ponnagyun Township and neighbouring Mrauk-U Township to three years in prison with hard labour, also under Section 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law. 

In March 2020, the previous government declared the Arakan Army to be a terrorist group and unlawful association. But on March 11, 2021, the Anti-Terrorism Central Committee reversed course and said it had removed the AA from its list of terrorist organisations. 

The military junta that seized power on February 1, 2021, has withdrawn some terrorism cases filed in Arakan State since the Arakan Army’s delisting. But several cases were not dropped, despite expectations that they would be. 

Dozens of people are still facing trial in various Arakan State courts on suspicion of having AA affiliations.