Myanmar’s junta re-arrested more than 100 pro-democracy activists shortly after they were released in an amnesty on humanitarian grounds last week.
While an accurate number of those released across the country is difficult to verify, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a local monitoring group, said that at least 110 of those pardoned have been re-arrested.
“Some were... re-arrested as soon as they arrived home...Some others were told they were on the released list, taken to the jail entrance, only to be taken back to prison in the face of additional charges,” AAPP said in a statement last Thursday.
According to reports, some relatives who were waiting outside the prison in the hopes of being reunited with their loved ones only “managed to catch a glimpse of them at the gates, before they were handcuffed and taken away,” while “others spent hours together, only to be separated again.”
According to local news outlet Irrawaddy, 11 of 38 political prisoners released were apprehended at the prison gate itself after being freed from the Meiktila Prison in Mandalay Region. Several released members of the National League for Democracy party (NLD) were detained again, including lawmaker U Lwin Maung Maung. Several members of the ’88 Generation students movement were also detained once again.
Minutes after military ruler Min Aung Hlaing’s speech last Monday, Myanmar’s military government freed hundreds of political prisoners from the infamous Insein prison.
Although military ruler Min Aung Hlaing defended the actions of his government, the country’s state television had announced that more than 5,600 people who were arrested or wanted over their roles in pro-democracy protests would be freed in an amnesty on humanitarian grounds.
According to a statement released by the junta, more than 1,300 of those due to be released would be let go on the pre-condition that they sign agreements pledging not to re-offend the military government.
Without providing more details on when others would be freed, it was announced that the release was intended to mark the Thadingyut festival which falls in late October.
The release took place shortly after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) put pressure by deciding to exclude Myanmar’s military leader, Min Aung Hlaing, from participating in the bloc’s upcoming virtual summit on October 26-28, and invite a non-political representative instead.
While Myanmar’s junta refused to send a politically neutral representative to the summit, it pledged on Sunday to cooperate “as much as possible” with the five-point peace plan that Min Aung Hlaing agreed to in April.
To this end, the country’s military-aligned party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, urged the junta on Friday to open dialogue with coup opponents.
“Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing took responsibility for the country ... His caretaker government is the most responsible for making the dialogue happen,” said party spokesperson Nandar Hla Myint.
Myanmar Junta Re-Arrests More Than 100 Anti-Coup Protestors Released in Amnesty Last Week
While an accurate number of those released across the country is difficult to verify, a local monitoring group, said that at least 110 of those pardoned have been re-arrested.
October 25, 2021
SOURCE: AFP