Three of 61 people with AA-related charges dropped yet to be released

By DMG 23 Oct 2021

DMG Newsroom
23 October 2021, Sittwe 

The State Administration Council (SAC) has closed the cases of 61 people who were arrested for alleged affiliation with the Arakan Army (AA), but as of October 21 only 58 of them had been released from prisons. 

The former detainees had been charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law and numbered seven from Sittwe Prison, eight from Mrauk-U Prison, 40 from Kyaukphyu Prison and three from Thandwe Prison. 

Marking the sixth anniversary of the signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) on October 15, Myanmar’s military regime announced that it was dropping charges against 114 people arrested on suspicion of having illegal ties to ethnic armed groups, including both NCA signatories and non-signatories. 

“Those charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law should have been released on the day the Arakan Army (AA) was undesignated as a terrorist organisation,” said U Mrat Tun, director of the Arakan Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Association. “It has been three years since the case of the Lekka villagers. The villagers were prosecuted without any evidence. These are serious human rights violations.” 

More than 20 Lekka villagers in Mrauk-U Township were arrested in April 2019 on suspicion of having links with the Arakan Army and their trial on Counter-Terrorism Law charges is ongoing.  

For months, family members have been hoping that loved ones facing Counter-Terrorism Law charges in relation to alleged AA links would be released after the junta removed the designation of the ethnic armed organisation as a terrorist group on March 11. Dozens of cases have since been dropped, but dozens of others remain before the courts. 

More than 200 people were arrested and charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law after being accused of associating with the AA during some two years of fighting in Arakan State, according to data from civil society organisations in Arakan State. 

As of October 22, 102 of the accused had been released, but more than 100 are still detained. 

“In fact, those arrested and charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law should have been released a long time ago,” said writer Wai Hun Aung, a well-known philanthropist in Arakan State. “Now there is peace and stability in Arakan State and the SAC also delisted the Arakan Army as a terrorist organisation. Those convicted of terrorism have been in prison for some time and I think they need to be released as soon as possible so that they do not suffer.” 

U Nyi Pu from Sanae town, Ann Township, who was arrested on suspicion of having links with the Arakan Army in October 2020, has not yet been freed, and his wife, Daw Than Than Nu, has demanded his immediate release. 

“If the military council dropped [all] charges against those sued with terrorism charges and released the detainees, my husband would have been acquitted. My husband is said to be in poor health. I want my husband to return home and receive medical treatment,” she said.