ANP Youth Wing denounces prison sentences for four student protesters in Arakan State

By DMG 17 Sep 2021

DMG Newsroom
17 September 2021, Sittwe 

The Arakan National Party’s Youth Wing has denounced a court verdict of two years and six months’ imprisonment for four students over an October 2020 protest against the previous government and military, with the wing saying they stand with those suffering casualties and displacement during armed conflict in Arakan State. 

The students demonstrated for the needs of the people, but the government did not fulfill their demands and unlawfully arrested the students and sentenced them to long term imprisonment, said Ko San Htay Maung, information officer of the ANP Youth Wing. The government should not do it, he added. 

“Students are the future of the country. Sending the students to prison is breaking their future. So, we demand not to do unlawful arrest and punishment,” he said. 

The ANP Youth Wing called the student protestors’ verdict “a lawless act of dictators,” and demanded their immediate release. 

The Sittwe Township Court on September 16 ordered the punishment for the four students on Penal Code and Natural Disaster Management Law charges, following an 11-month trial. 

Ko Toe Toe Aung, chairperson of the Sittwe University Students’ Union, said the court had ordered the long-term punishment without transparency. 

“I must say they lack transparency because they did not let us know about the court sentencing hearing. It shows their injustice,” he said. 

The convicted students had joined the anti-war demonstration organised by the Arakan Students’ Union on October 19, with protesters’ slogans including “No Fascist Army”, “No Colonial Government”, “No Bloody Government”, and “Burmese Government Get Out”.  

The four students, Ko Kyaw Naing Htay, Ko Oo Than Naing, Ko Myat Soe Win and Ko Kaung Tun, were arrested after the protest.