Myanmar junta imprisons more than 140 Rakhine State residents for alleged AA ties

The Myanmar junta handed down three-year prison sentences last week to 140 people arrested from a village outside Sittwe, Rakhine State for alleged connections to the state’s most powerful ethnic armed group, the detainees’ families said. The sentencing took place last Friday at a Sittwe Prison court. All of the prisoners had been arrested around three months earlier from Sittwe Township’s Byine Phyu village, also known as Sut Yoe Kya Ward, following a raid by junta soldiers that ended in the horrific slaughter of nearly 80 of the ward’s residents. Relatives of the prisoners have so far not been allowed to visit them, according to a prisoner’s wife in her 50s. “That day, we weren’t allowed to enter the prison,” she said, referring to the day of sentencing. “We had to stay at the entrance. After the sentencing, they came and told us what sentences had been decided.” Apart from her 65-year-old husband, two of the woman’s sons-in-law in their 30s and 40s were among those arrested. All were sentenced under Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act. They were unable to afford a lawyer for their defence. The woman said her husband sustained injuries to his chest and back from beatings by the junta troops, and that one of her sons-in-law had been left bleeding from his ear. “My husband and sons-in-law have absolutely no connection with the AA,” she said. “They were wrongfully accused and imprisoned. I only want for them to be released as soon as possible.” “Without a job now, it's very difficult for me,” she added. “We will have to scrape by to send them medicine.” The wife of another man who had been sentenced expressed her anguish over the injustice of the mass arrests and imprisonment of Byine Phyu’s men. “After my husband was imprisoned, I had to stay at a monastery. I’ve had to suffer a lot. I don’t have any family, so when one of us is imprisoned, it’s very painful,” she said. The massacre On May 29 of this year, junta troops raided Byine Phyu—a ward with over 1,000 households on the north bank of the Sut Yoe Kya Creek on Sittwe’s northern outskirts—rounding up all civilian residents from their homes. Sittwe, the administrative capital of Rakhine State, in early December 2023 (Photo: Myanmar Now) Having killed four people during the initial roundup, the junta gathered the ward’s residents near a marketplace in the town, separating the men and women. The soldiers began questioning the men about their connections to the Arakan Army (AA), the powerful ethnic armed organisation with whom the junta has been fighting for control of Rakhine State since November 2023. They said they wanted to find people who had collaborated with the AA in sinking warships on the Kaladan River—incidents that reportedly resulted in the deaths of an unknown number of junta soldiers’ civilian family members. During the questioning, soldiers reportedly began beating and shooting the men point-blank, ultimately killing more than 70. While still in the ward, the soldiers also reportedly raped and murdered three girls or young women, according to Byine Phyu residents. Junta authorities later let the surviving women go, but kept nearly 300 men in their custody. Accused of maintaining ties with the AA, 144 of those detainees were eventually sentenced to prison in the Sittwe court last week. Many of the surviving civilian residents of Byine Phyu Village have been taking shelter in monasteries. They said they remain too afraid of being detained again by junta troops to move or travel freely. Knowing that fighting could break out in Sittwe at any time, residents of the city and its environs are afraid for their lives, according to the prisoner’s wife who is sheltering in a monastery. “We can’t go anywhere. We’re scared but have to stay here,” she said. Since fighting between the AA and Myanmar military resumed in Rakhine State in November of last year, the junta has blocked land and sea routes around Sittwe, preventing locals from fleeing approaching conflict. As a result, the only remaining means of escape is to fly to central cities like Yangon and Mandalay, an option already taken by some who could afford it. Financial constraints, the risk of conscription, and the fear of arrest by junta authorities for various offences—such as failing to register as overnight guests while staying with other families—have prevented many from leaving Sittwe despite the dangers of staying. Battles are ongoing between the Arakan Army and junta forces in Rakhine State. On August 29, fighting broke out between the military and AA between Mee Laung (Min Hla) village and Myit Nar village around five miles north of Sittwe. The AA has now captured most of the town of Maungdaw in northern Rakhine State, and has continued assaults on the Maung Shwe Lay naval base, the junta’s last remaining outpost in Thandwe township. Fighting is also ongoing in the town of Kyeintali, Gwa Township. After months of fighting, the AA now exercises control over Paletwa Township, Chin State as well as nine of Rakhine State’s 17 townships: Myebon, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Pauktaw, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung, Buthidaung, and Ramree (Yanbye).

Myanmar junta imprisons more than 140 Rakhine State residents for alleged AA ties

Of more than 300 locals arrested in May during a bloody, vengeful junta raid on Byine Phyu village north of Sittwe, 140 have now been handed three-year sentences on terrorism charges for alleged association with the Arakan Army

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