Myanmar Now*
Both family members and the lawyer of the arrested political commentator say that they have been unable to contact him since he was taken into junta custody on August 15
No one has been able to communicate with columnist Sithu Aung Myint, who has been in junta detention since his arrest on Sunday, his lawyer and family members said on Thursday.
Sithu Aung Myint, whose political commentary is regularly featured in media outlets including Frontier Myanmar and VOA, was arrested by soldiers on the evening of August 15 from a Yangon apartment where he had been in hiding.
Than Zaw Aung, an attorney who is assisting with his case, said he was told by police officers from Bahan Township that Sithu Aung Myint was being held in an interrogation centre.
“They said he was immediately taken to the interrogation center. I don’t know anything apart from that,” the lawyer said.
The Bahan police also told him that the landlord of the property where he was staying, and the presenter on a BBC Media Action program were arrested along with Sithu Aung Myint.
The presenter was identified as Htet Htet Khine; her TV show is called “Khan Sar Kyi” in Burmese, or “Feel It” in English.
The military council has not disclosed any information on either individual.
The coup regime opened a legal case against Sithu Aung Myint on April 24 under Section 505a of Myanmar’s penal code for incitement.
In an attempt to take control of the press, the junta has arrested more than 100 journalists since the February 1 coup.
Immediately following the coup, news outlets including Mizzima, DVB, 7Day, Khit Thit and Myanmar Now were blacklisted and had their publishing licences revoked; the same Kachin State-based 74 Media and the Myitkyina Journal on April 29.
Junta-allied local administrator shot dead in Mandalay
The ward administrator is accused of facilitating the arrest of local youth by the military in the days before his murder
A military council-appointed ward administrator in Mandalay’s Chan Aye Thazan Township was shot in the head by two gunmen on Wednesday afternoon, according to a ward resident who arrived at the scene after the assassination.
Aung Swe Tun, 47, was the administrator for Shwe Hlan ward. He was killed at his office and the perpetrators immediately fled the site of the murder, according to the resident.
He noted that strict Covid-19 travel restrictions, including a stay-at-home order in place from 9am until 3pm, were in effect when Aung Swe Tun was killed.
The resident told Myanmar Now that young people from the ward had been arrested by the junta’s armed forces in recent days, and speculated that this may have prompted retaliation from local resistance.
He alleged that Aung Swe Tun was a military informant.
“He personally showed the soldiers the way to the houses on 79th and 29th streets [in Shwe Hlan ward] where they arrested the youth,” he said.
Myanmar Now attempted to contact Aung Swe Tun’s family to comment on the allegations, but had received no response at the time of reporting.
Since May, local resistance and guerrilla forces have been carrying out targeted killings of junta-appointed administrators, USDP members, and civilians suspected of acting as collaborators with the coup council or military informants.
At the time of reporting, more than 1,000 civilians had been killed by the junta’s troops since Myanmar’s February 1 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
In Mandalay, families of the victims have reported that the military is increasingly refusing to return the bodies of the deceased to their relatives for burial.
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*Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.
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