Family unable to meet detained Kyauktaw activist

By DMG 23 Jun 2022

DMG Newsroom
23 June 2022, Kyauktaw

Family members have not been allowed to meet Ko Zaw Win aka Ludu Zaw Win , a political and social activist in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township, who was arrested by the Myanmar military, said Ma Khaing Khaing, the wife of the detainee.

Ko Zaw Win, 42, was arrested while having lunch at his home in Kyauktaw’s Pyidawtha ward on the morning of June 21. It is still unknown why he was arrested and his whereabouts.

Ma Khaing Khaing said she went to Kyauktaw Myoma police station and the Myanmar military’s Light Infantry Battalion No. 375 on June 22, but she was not allowed to meet her husband.

“I went to the police station because I was worried about him. When I arrived at the police station, police officials told me that he was not detained at the police station. The police told me that they could not help me because the military was handling the matter directly. I then proceeded to a security checkpoint near the bridge, but my husband was not there. Finally I contacted a major from the Myanmar military at the township administrator’s office, who told me that my husband was being detained, but he was not allowed to meet with family members,” she added.

Family members are worried that something bad will happen during Ko Zaw Win’s detention because he is in poor health.

“My husband is not in very good health. If he does not eat regularly, his whole body will tremble and lose strength. He was arrested, so I am very worried that he will not be able to eat regularly and that he will be beaten,” she said.

The Myanmar military tightened security in Kyauktaw and arrested several locals including Ko Zaw Win following the Arakan Army’s detention of three policemen from Kyauktaw Myoma police station on the evening of June 20.

The situation in Kyauktaw is currently not stable and junta soldiers raided some homes in Pyidawtha and Kyauktawtaung wards, as well as conducting interrogations of residents, according to locals.