Contact not had with several Arakan State residents detained by military in recent weeks

By DMG 25 Aug 2022

DMG Newsroom
25 August 2022, Sittwe

Some of the more than 50 locals arrested by the Myanmar military were released in July, but the rest were charged with incitement under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code, and at least 10 people have not been in contact with their families for weeks.

According to data compiled by DMG, at least 10 people from Maungdaw, Ponnagyun and Kyauktaw townships have not been allowed to meet with their families for at least a month, family members said.

U Kyaw Hein, a 39-year-old traditional medicine practitioner, went missing while returning to Kavi Yadana displacement camp after providing medical treatment to a patient from neighbouring Kangyishin IDP camp on the night of July 19.

U Maung Saw Thar was arrested after he transported two passengers to the Mahamuni Buddha image in Kyauktaw Township on August 1 and family members have not been in contact with him since his arrest, said Daw Ma Aye Khin, the wife of U Maung Saw Thar.

“I have yet to contact my husband and he is reportedly being held at a military regiment in Kyauktaw. I dare not go there for fear of being arrested by the military. The village administrator told me that I will not be allowed to meet him. There are also rumours that he is dead. I am worried about his safety,” she told DMG.

The military also arrested U Moe Thee Khaing, 50, and U Maung Hsan, 40, from Sanpya ward in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township on July 19, and the pair hasn’t been seen or heard since their arrest, a family member told DMG.

“We are worried about his safety and we have not been in contact with him since his arrest. He is currently being detained at the Myanmar military’s No. 550 Light Infantry Regiment,” the family member added.

U Moe Thee Khaing is a philanthropist and a respected elder in this community and U Maung Hsan, the other detainee, reportedly earns a living as a restaurant owner, according to family members.

U Phone Ko Naing, the administrator of Kyeinchaung village, was detained along with Ko Tun Chay, Ko Tun Kyaing and U Ba Thein, a village in-charge for Thayargon village, on July 19 and 20, when they were taken into custody by military and Border Guard Force (BGF) personnel.

Family members have not been in contact with the four men since their arrest, according to Daw Ma Sein Mya, an elder sister of U Phone Ko Naing.

“We went to the BGF camp at least 10 times to meet him but we were denied access. We are concerned for his safety. We have yet to receive any information about his fate,” she told DMG.

DMG attempted to contact Arakan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura for comment on the detentions, but he could not be reached.