A former National League for Democracy (NLD) minister who was freed from detention by the Arakan Army (AA) only last month has been detained again, this time by the military after leading protests against last week’s coup.
Min Aung, who served as Rakhine’s minister for municipal affairs and won a state seat in last year’s election, was being held at a police station with fellow NLD member Thant Zin Phyo when the military arrived around midnight on Tuesday evening to take the two away.
Taungup minister Min Aung and NLD member Thant Zin Phyo were arrested on Tuesday in Taungup, after which a crowd of around 100 people descended on the police station to demand their release.
Soldiers later arrived to take them away for “security reasons,” said Than Naing, the station’s chief officer. “We were concerned for security reasons since they had gathered in front of the police station in a large crowd,” he said. The pair’s whereabouts are unknown.
Min Aung was detained by the AA along with two other NLD candidates last October, and freed on January 1.
About 10,000 people in Taungup protested against the coup on Tuesday. Min Aung and Thant Zin Phyo were arrested at around 11am at the local NLD office.
They are being charged under article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly Law for holding the protest, as well as under the Natural Disaster Management Law for breaking Covid-19 restrictions during the rally.
They will be brought back to the police station when “things are considered safe again,” Than Naing said.
Mya Wut Yee, Min Aung’s wife, said she was only made aware her husband had been taken by the military when she sent his breakfast to the police station on Wednesday morning.
“The entire country is protesting. Other townships in Rakhine are as well. So why are they only detaining him and others?” she said.
The police offered to release him if he signed an agreement promising not to hold more protests but he refused, she added.
