{"id":4705,"date":"2018-01-18T12:33:30","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T06:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/new-eng\/?p=4705"},"modified":"2026-01-28T11:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T04:35:13","slug":"myanmar-authorities-arrest-rakhine-lawmaker-plan-to-charge-him-with-treason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/?p=4705","title":{"rendered":"Myanmar Authorities Arrest Rakhine Lawmaker, Plan to Charge Him With Treason"},"content":{"rendered":"
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AFP<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0Authorities in western Myanmar\u2019s Rakhine state arrested a local lawmaker Thursday and plan to charge him and the organizers of a nationalist ethnic Rakhine event with treason, according to officials, after clashes with police left at least seven people dead.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On Tuesday, police shot dead at least seven ethnic Rakhine protesters and wounded 13 others after thousands of members of the minority group marking a Buddhist anniversary converged on a local government building in the town of Mrauk U when authorities attempted to stop the event.<\/p>\n

Later on Tuesday, police arrested Rakhine social critic Wai Hin Aung in the Rakhine capital Sittwe after he delivered a speech along with Rakhine nationalist lawmaker Aye Maung calling for revolt against Myanmar\u2019s ethnic majority Bamar-led government in Rathedaung township and charged him under Article 17(1) of the Unlawful Association Act.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, police arrested Aye Maung and also charged him under Article 17(1).<\/p>\n

Aye Maung\u2019s friend Aung Than Wai told RFA\u2019s Myanmar Service that police took the lawmaker into custody at his home in Sittwe, where he had been waiting for them on Thursday after learning that a warrant had been issued for his arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither the township administrator, district administrator or the [ranking]police officer knew the reason of his arrest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe asked them why he was being arrested and the officials said it was because higher-ranking officials had ordered them to do so. Only when Aye Maung got to court was he informed by the judge that he was being charged under Article 17(1).\u201d<\/p>\n

Later on Thursday, Rakhine state government secretary Tin Maung Swe told reporters that Aye Maung and Wai Hin Aung, and organizers of the anniversary event\u2014who did not receive permission to hold it\u2014will face additional charges of \u201chigh treason\u201d under Section 122 of Myanmar\u2019s Penal Code and could be sentenced to death if found guilty.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe received an order to charge the event leader San Hla Baw and other organizers in Mrauk U under Section 122,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWriter Wai Hin Aung and Aye Maung, who gave talks in Rathedaung, will be charged under Section 122 as well. Their arrests were not related to the Mrauk U case\u2014they were the result of their speeches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tin Maung Swe also rejected media reports citing sources who said police had used excessive force in firing on the crowd that had tried to destroy property at the township\u2019s government office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe media has said the police cracked down on the protesters, and that is wrong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is because of the police\u2019s action that they were able to stop the people who entered the government office and committed violent acts.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview on Thursday, Aye Maung told the\u00a0Irrawaddy\u00a0<\/i>online news journal from custody that he had heard he would be charged for treason, and instead called for issues such as freedom of expression and the fundamental rights of citizens to be discussed in parliament, to address public concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would not have been a lawmaker if I wanted to rebel against the government,\u201d he told the\u00a0Irrawaddy<\/i>.<\/p>\n

He also called Tuesday\u2019s shooting \u201cbrutal\u201d and predicted it will be \u201cinked in history forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs they are heading toward national reconciliation, they [the Myanmar government]should be looking to share power with others,\u201d he said, calling representation for ethnic groups \u201cthe key problem [that]is still unresolved today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nyan Win, spokesman for Myanmar\u2019s ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), said his party \u201cwasn\u2019t at all involved in Aye Maung\u2019s arrest,\u201d when asked about it Thursday.<\/p>\n

Rakhine lawmakers<\/b><\/p>\n

Ethnic Rakhine lawmakers condemned the shooting, noting that residents had peacefully celebrated the anniversary for six years without requiring permission from the local government.<\/p>\n

Arakan National Party (ANP) Lower House MP Pe Than, of Myaybon township, said he was saddened to see such an incident occur under the NLD\u2019s democratic government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis incident occurred because of the restrictions on holding a gathering, and the ethnic Rakhines will never forget it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the government said security forces tried to disperse people according to police procedures, certain issues remain, such as, why would they fire on unarmed people, and whether the protesters really did commit acts of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lower House MP Ba Shein, an ethnic Rakhine representative for the ANP from Kyauk Phyu, said the incident had \u201cdamaged the trust between the people and the government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to suggest that the government did it intentionally, but it should have had a plan in place to avoid this kind of problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have heard the people\u2019s comments on the government\u2019s action. The authorities and ethnic leaders are working out the peace and national reconciliation process, but this kind of incident does not help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrauk U ANP lawmaker Oo Hla Saw said that the government, military, and ethnic leaders are \u201cvery far apart\u201d on national reconciliation, despite two years under NLD rule, and that \u201cprogress has been reversed by this incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rights group reacts<\/b><\/p>\n

Also on Thursday, New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a statement slamming authorities in Rakhine for their handling of Tuesday\u2019s protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reported killings of Rakhine protestors by security forces in Rakhine\u2019s Mrauk-U are the latest in a long history of assaults on protesters and freedom of expression in [Myanmar],\u201d said Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch\u2019s deputy Asia director.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reported throwing of bricks by protesters in no way justifies this excessive use of force and the blatant disregard for the right to life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Robertson urged Myanmar\u2019s government to \u201cimmediately, independently and impartially investigate this incident\u201d and hold those responsible to account.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut given its track record, this is unlikely to happen, so the United Nations should be invited to investigate,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, London-based rights group Amnesty International, which said at least eight people had died in the incident, condemned the police shooting in Mrauk U as \u201cyet another example of Myanmar security forces\u2019 contempt for human life\u201d and also urged authorities to launch an investigation.<\/p>\n

Reported by Min Thein Aung, Waiyan Moe Myint, Khin Khin Ei, Thin Thiri, and Tin Aung Khine for RFA\u2019s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

RFA News<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFP \u00a0Authorities in western Myanmar\u2019s Rakhine state arrested a local lawmaker Thursday and plan to charge him and the organizers of a nationalist ethnic Rakhine event with treason, according to officials, after clashes with police left at least seven people dead. On Tuesday, police shot dead at least seven ethnic Rakhine protesters and wounded 13 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4706,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4705"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4707,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4705\/revisions\/4707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}