News

Junta seals off Ayeyarwady charity worker’s properties after allegations of support to the resistance  

The military sealed off three properties owned by a charity worker in Ayeyarwady Region’s Maubin Township on Saturday after the junta accused him of supporting the anti-coup resistance movement. 

Than Hteik Aung, also known as Hteik Hteik, is the founder of the Pyo Khinn Thit Foundation in Maubin, which provides shelter to the homeless, as well as another charity which offers ambulance services and collects blood donations. 

“His house, the office building of the Pyo Khinn Thit Foundation—which is legally owned by his mother—and his family’s yard were sealed that day,” a source close to Than Hteik Aung told Myanmar Now.

He and his family were not home at the time their home was targeted, as they have been in hiding since March when Than Hteik Aung was charged by the junta with violating Section 505b of the Penal Code for incitement.

An additional charge—of violating Section 52 of the Counterterrorism Law—was filed against four people including Than Hteik Aung, for allegedly arranging transportation for a police officer who had defected from the junta to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and the People’s Defence Force (PDF). 

The homes of the three individuals charged alongside him—Ni Ni Phyo Maung, Aung Ko Latt and Thet Naing—were sealed off in early November, according to the previous source.

The military council has been filing major charges against civilians alleged to have collaborated with PDFs, as well as with the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) or the shadow National Unity Government (NUG).

They have also sealed off the houses of nearly all members of the CRPH and the NUG.

Seizures of the property of accused collaborators with the resistance began in Yangon, Mandalay, Yesagyo, Bago, Shwebo and several other major cities across the country in the last week of October.

According to locals in Ayeyarwady, some 20 homes and buildings throughout the region have been cordoned off by the junta since the start of November. 

Among them was the home of Mahn Johnny, Ayeyarwady Region’s chief minister under the deposed National League for Democracy administration. Located in Aung San ward in Kyonpyaw Township, the home was sealed off and his family forced to leave the premises on October 31.

Related Articles

Back to top button