Category: ASEAN

A court in Myanmar’s central Mandalay region has handed down 22-year sentences to three Buddhist monks accused of supporting anti-junta People’s Defense forces, a local resident told RFA Thursday. Tuesday’s sentences came after the monks from Taw Kyaung Gyi monastery in Patheingyi township were found guilty under Section 50 (j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, which prohibits the financing of terrorist groups. The local, who didn’t want to be named for safety reasons, said the monks became involved because anti-junta militia often seek refuge in religious buildings, thinking they will be safer. “A monk is not a People’s Defense Force [member]. PDF youths set up camp in that monastery and sent drones over Mandalay city,” he said. “The monks probably encouraged them because locals are involved. Monks host the PDF and collect donations for them.” RFA has not been able to find out the names of the monks but the local said one was the chair of Mandalay’s Madaya township Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, established by the government in 1980 to oversee the Buddhist clergy. Another local, who also requested anonymity, told RFA the three monks are being held in Mandalay’s Obo Prison following the hearing in Mandalay city’s Aungmyaythazan District Court  Some 18,364 people are currently in detention in Myanmar, 6,076 of them serving prison sentences, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Junta troops have raided a hospital in Myanmar’s northwestern Chin state, arresting a doctor and four nurses, according to a local resident. The local identified the five women as Dr. Ci Ci Lia and nurses Henny Zivalem, KhupSian Lun, San Hniang Sung and Van Niang Mawi, all ethnic Chin. “They were arrested at midnight [Sunday] and informed they would be questioned,” said the resident who declined to be named for security reasons. “Many soldiers came to the hospital at the time of the arrest.” Agape Hospital is a privately-run medical facility, set up by the Presbyterian Church in Myanmar, which said it wanted to provide basic healthcare to a state with insufficient facilities. The doctor and four nurses all joined Myanmar’s civil disobedience movement soon after the military seized power in a February 2021 coup, the local told RFA although they said the junta had not given a reason for the arrest. The five are being held at the local police station in Hakha township and have been allowed to see their families. Other residents told RFA troops arrested at least 15 people in Hakha township on Sunday evening when they checked lists of visitors staying overnight. Sunday’s raid follows a similar one on April 2 when troops arrested two doctors and a staff member at Agape Hospital. Locals say the three were freed in exchange for the release of junta officials who had been detained by the Chin People’s Defense Force in Hakha, suggesting the latest arrests may also be part of a planned prisoner exchange. RFA has not been able to confirm this independently. The Chin People’s Defense Force confirmed Sunday’s arrest of the five medical workers but did not comment on any possible prisoner swap. RFA called Chin state’s junta spokesman and social affairs minister Thant Zin Wednesday, seeking comment on the latest arrests, but the calls went unanswered. Last week the junta revoked the business licenses of three private hospitals in Myanmar’s central Mandalay region. Palace, City and Kant Kaw hospitals had already been told to stop accepting patients because they were using staff belonging to the civil disobedience movement. According to Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government, the junta has attacked hospitals and clinics 188 times since the coup. They damaged 59 ambulances and seized 49 more, the NUG’s Ministry of Health said, adding that 71 medical workers were killed and 836 arrested in the past 27 months. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

A new weapons law introduced by Myanmar’s military has led to a junta roundup of people accused of belonging to, or financing, anti-junta People’s Defense Forces, according to Saya Kyaung, an official of Yangon Underground Association People’s Defense Force. His comments come after junta-controlled newspapers reported Monday on the arrests of eight alleged members of  the Royal Phoenix Guerilla Force in Mandalay, along with five people accused of funding them. The arrested include the leader of the guerilla force, Pyae Nyein Chan, and his second-in-command, Chan Myae Oo, the papers said. Chan Myae Oo was arrested in Mandalay on April 6 and the rest were arrested over several days from May 18, reports said. A member of the Royal Phoenix Guerilla Force, who did not want to be named for security reasons, confirmed to RFA Tuesday that some members had been arrested but said civilians unconnected to the group had also been picked up by junta authorities. “Khing Khing Aung, who was among the arrested, was a civilian. She had already been arrested under Section 505 (a) and recently released from prison,” he said, referring to a section of the Penal Code that was amended after the February 2021 coup to criminalize the spreading of fake news and incitement against a junta employee. “Now she has been accused of giving financial support [to the guerilla force] and arrested on the night of May 18.” He said the military closely watches people freed after allegedly committing political crimes and often rearrests them when something happens in their neighborhoods. Newspapers reported that the three women and two men arrested along with guerilla members had been charged with financing People’s Defense Forces and keeping hand-made mines. They said the eight alleged guerilla force members had detonated nine mines in Mandalay and Sagaing regions, killing a policeman and two civilians. New weapons law The junta-controlled newspapers also reported Sunday on the May 12 arrests of 10 people, including four alleged members of the Yangon Revolution Force.  Five people were accused of giving information to the People’s Defense Force and one of funding it. They were all charged in connection with the murders of Sai Kyaw Thu, the deputy director general of the junta-appointed Union Election Commission, and his wife. The weapons law enacted on May 11 allows junta courts to impose the death penalty on members of any armed opposition group. It states that anyone armed with intent to rebel against the state, or stealing and selling state-owned arms and ammunition belonging to a person authorized to bear arms, faces a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of life in prison or the death penalty. Saya Kyaung, an official of Yangon Underground Association, which fights junta forces in Myanmar’s commercial capital, told RFA the law is intended to weaken any attempts at an  armed people’s revolution and to instill fear in the population. More than 3,500 civilians have been killed and over 22,600 pro-democracy campaigners have been arrested since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Rohingya living in camps in the Sittwe, Myanmar, area continued to struggle Thursday amid the widespread destruction caused by Cyclone Mocha over the weekend. “Urgent needs include shelter, clean water, food assistance and health care services,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance said in a flash update Wednesday. “There are rising concerns in flooded areas about the spread of waterborne disease.” About 130,000 Rohingya have lived for more than a decade in camps for internally displaced persons in the area. During the storm, the sea level suddenly rose nearly 10 meters (30 feet) and almost all the huts in one camp were washed away, said Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition. According to the Health Cluster, an arm of the World Health Organization, mobile clinics have begun operating in some of the affected Myanmar townships, and rapid response teams have been deployed to some of the camps, including Dar Paing.