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Junta authorities arrested the teenaged president of the Basic Education Students’ Union of Naypyitaw’s Zabuthiri Township at his home earlier this week, according to the group.

Tun Aung Kyaw, age 15, was taken into detention by two police officers and two local administrators, a spokesperson for the Naypyitaw Students’ Union said.

It is said that the military units arrested Tun Aung Kyaw, the president of the basic education students’ union of Zabuthiri township, Naypyidaw, at his home on October 3 evening.

“He is technically a minor, so they said that they just had some questions to ask and that they’d let him go soon,” he told Myanmar Now.

At the time of reporting, the boy was still being held at the No. 3 police station in Zabuthiri and had not been allowed contact with his family, the student union representative said.

At 10pm on Tuesday, military troops reportedly ransacked his house.

Myanmar Now called the police station for comment on Tun Aung Kyaw’s arrest but the calls went unanswered.

Another Naypyitaw student leader, Yan Paing, was arrested by the military on May 2 and died on October 1 during an interrogation, according to a statement released by the Naypyitaw Students’ Union.

According to the statistics reported by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), there have now been at least 7,104 civilians detained by the junta since the February 1 coup and at least 1,158 civilians killed during that same period.

As they have been active in participating in anti-coup demonstrations, student union members have been frequent targets of military arrests, but the exact number of students in detention is not known.

Most recently, four students preparing to protest against the junta were arrested near the Pathi dam in Taungoo Township, Bago Region on the evening of September 19.

Wai Yan Phyo Moe, the vice president of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), was charged with violating Section 505a of the Penal Code for incitement at the Mayangone Township court in Yangon this week, according to his lawyer.

Lawyer Thet Naung told Myanmar Now that they heard about new charges against Wai Yan Phyo Moe during his other hearings in the Kyauktada and Kamayut township courts on Tuesday.

“We haven’t seen him for a while as the offices and prisons have been closed. We only learnt briefly about this Section 505 charge during his court hearings at Kyauktada and Kamayut courts,” he said.

The lawyer said he has not submitted a power of attorney document for the new charge, which would allow him to represent Wai Yan Phyo Moe at hearings in Mayangone.

Wai Yan Phyo Moe was already facing charges for the violation of Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law in Kyauktada for allegedly breaking rules surrounding demonstrations, as well as for incitement in both Kyauktada and Kamayut.

If convicted, each incitement charge carries a three-year prison sentence and the Section 19 charge is accompanied by a three-month sentence and/or a fine.

Many detained anti-junta protesters have been charged in different townships where they led or participated in demonstrations on the pretext that they allegedly broke the law by taking part in rallies after the February 1 military coup.

Thet Naung said that Wai Yan Phyo Moe had been held in Insein Prison since his arrest in March.

He noted that his client was in good health but that he was concerned because Wai Yan Phyo Moe had initially been placed in a cell with violent offenders instead of other political prisoners.

“We’ve requested that the prison authorities move him and they agreed to, but they haven’t actually moved him yet. It’s been too long already,” Thet Naung explained.

Wai Yan Phyo Moe was one of around 500 civilians arrested during a crackdown on the General Strike Committee’s protest column in Yangon’s Tamwe Township on March 3.

Seven detained student activists including Wai Yan Phyo Moe were placed in solitary confinement for one week after they refused to read the prison rules out loud on April 22, a punitive measure typically demanded of inmates by prison officials. They were later sent to the prison ward where those convicted of violent crimes are held, and have reportedly been asked for bribes, forced to do hard labour, and have received death threats.

Soldiers on Tuesday evening arrested six students from Dagon University who were staying together in an apartment in downtown Yangon, a student leader has said.

Min Htet Han, chair of the university’s students’ union, told Myanmar Now it is unclear why the six were arrested, but that soldiers arrived at the 39th street apartment in Kyauktada saying they were inspecting overnight guest lists.

“They were staying on the top floor and it was the only apartment that was checked,” he said. “I think it’s safe to assume that they were looking for them in particular.” Informants may have told the military they were staying there, he suggested.

The six detainees are zoology student Wutyi Aung, chemistry student Thinzat Zaw, law student Sithu Aung Tin, archeology student Ye Lin Oo, geology student Myint Thein Naing, and Nay Htet Lin, who studies history.

Earlier this month the former chair of the Dagon University Students’ Union, Min Thukha Kyaw, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a military court. He had taken part in anti-coup protests before his arrest more than three months ago. The military accused him of receiving combat training from the Kachin Independence Army.

Students have been among the most dedicated opponents of the military’s February 1 power grab, and have been repeatedly targeted in crackdowns in recent months.

Htet Aung, the 22-year-old former president of the Pyay University Students’ Union and vice president of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), was arrested by 10 plain clothed military personnel at a house in Paungde Township, Bago Region, where he was hiding on September 6.

“They took him saying they had some questions. We don’t know exactly why he was arrested,” said Nyi Nyi Zin, an ABFSU member.

Htet Aung had only been released from prison in February after serving several months of a one-year sentence for taking part in a protest against the war in Rakhine last year.

His family say they are worried for his wellbeing and do not know where he is being held.

In July, the junta detained nine students including Htet Wai Yan, the president of the Government Technical Institute Students’ Union in Letpadan, as well as Yan Naing Aung, an executive member of the Pyay Students’ Union.

Zin Ko Ko Khant, a 20-year-old student from Taungoo University, was detained a few days later.

A former reporter who had been missing since September 1 is in detention at a Yangon police station and has been charged with violating Section 505a of the Penal Code for incitement, according to her family.

Relatives of 35-year-old Thuzar were notified on Wednesday night that she was sent to the East Dagon police station on Wednesday after spending nearly one month in an interrogation centre, during which time her family was unable to contact her or confirm her whereabouts.

Ye Ko Ko, Thuzar’s husband, said that they had been preparing to file an official missing person’s report on Friday, the day that would have marked one month since her disappearance.

“They contacted us at around 8pm last night. They said she was at the police station and that we could not see her in person yet,” he told Myanmar Now on Thursday.

He added that a police officer came to the family home on Thursday morning, delivered a letter from Thuzar, and allowed them to send basic medicine and sanitary supplies to her.

“She wrote us a letter saying that she was in good health and that she was worried about her family. She also asked for her mother not to be worried about her,” Ye Ko Ko said.

Thuzar had a warrant out for her arrest for incitement since May, and escaped a military raid on her house during the same month. It is believed that she went into hiding in Yangon’s Kamayut Township.

Ye Ko Ko said that the last time he had contact with his wife was a phone call on the afternoon of September 1.

When it was apparent that she was missing, Thuzar’s family contacted interrogation centres, police stations and even the notorious Insein Prison in their search for her, but received no confirmation that she was in junta custody.

She has been remanded to the East Dagon police station, with a court hearing scheduled for October 13. If convicted, she faces up to three years in prison.

During the raid on Thuzar’s home in May, junta troops arrested Ye Ko Ko when they were unable to find her, holding him in an interrogation centre until he was released on bail four days later.

“We all felt like it was the end of the world when we couldn’t find her for 29 days. We were really relieved when we found out that she was alive and that she was being held at the police station. We are going to take every legal step possible to get her back,” her husband said.

Thuzar was a member of the Myanmar Press Council formed during the National League for Democracy government’s tenure, and had previously worked as a reporter for RFA, Modern Journal, The Irrawaddy, 7 Days News, and Friday Times News Journal.

Following the February 1 coup and until May, Thuzar worked as a freelance reporter at the Friday Times and Myanmar Pressphoto Agency.

The military council has arrested around 100 journalists since the coup. Although some have been released, more than 50 were still in detention at the time of reporting, according to a September 16 report by Detained Journalists Information Myanmar.

On an August morning at a wet market in Mandalay’s industrial suburbs, a 50-year-old man was selling noodles and cheerfully greeting fellow vendors and customers alike.

Win Ko Oo was well-known for his friendliness. But not everyone who had grown familiar with his smiling face knew that he had once had a very different life.

When the year began, Win Ko Oo was a train driver with 25 years’ experience. But then the army seized power, and everything changed. As someone who had lived through the aftermath of a similar coup in 1988, he knew he had to resist the return of military rule.

A month after Myanmar’s elected civilian government was overthrown, Win Ko Oo made up his mind to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that was sweeping the country.

“I hesitated at first because I had to think about my family. We had nowhere else to go. But in the end, my hatred for the regime outweighed my concerns about the hardships we would have to face, so I quit,” he told Myanmar Now that August morning.

Mandalay’s railway workers were among the first to join the movement in large numbers. In the department that Win Ko Oo belonged to, 285 of 319 staff members walked off the job in an effort to deny the regime control over state mechanisms.

This resulted in hundreds of railway employees and their families being forced to leave the housing compound where most of the striking workers lived.

But as one of the leaders of the protesting workers, Win Ko Oo also had another reason to worry: a warrant for his arrest on charges of incitement.

Police officers shot and arrested a 24-year-old political activist and detained his mother from their home in Bago on Thursday, according to local sources.

At around 10pm, junta police came to Zayar Aungmyay St in Bago’s Hinthagone 19th ward in two unmarked vehicles to arrest activist Sithu Kaung Myat, a well-known and active protester in local anti-coup demonstrations.

The policemen opened fire when it appeared that Sithu Kaung Myat was trying to run away, a local man said.

“They shot the young man three times in front of his mother when he was trying to escape. He was shot in his chest,” the man told Myanmar Now.

He added that Sithu Kaung Myat was on the second floor of the house when he was shot, while his mother was on the ground floor.

The police handcuffed the 50-year-old woman, who the source said has been in poor health, and raided the home.

"After the shooting, his mother was handcuffed and taken into a car. The young man had not been carried away at that time,” the man explained. “They ransacked the house and took their belongings, including a motorcycle that they wanted. Then the boy was taken into the car.”

Sithu Kaung Myat was admitted to the Bago General Hospital for gunshot wounds to the chest that he suffered when troops came to arrest him from his home on Zayar Aungmyay St in Hinthagone 19th ward at around 10pm.

Sithu Kaung Myat’s 50-year-old mother was also arrested on Thursday and was still in jail at the time of reporting. Police cordoned off the family’s home at around 2pm on Friday, around one hour after her son’s death, a local told Myanmar Now.

“They don’t have other relatives—it is only a mother and a son. She has no other relatives so nobody helped to get her released,” the local said. “People in that ward don’t know who they should ask for help. They don’t know where she has been detained.”

After locals visited the hospital and inquired about his condition, they learned that he had died on Friday afternoon.

It was not known at the time of reporting if or how a funeral would be held for Sithu Kaung Myat, who ​​was an active protester in local anti-coup demonstrations.

Myanmar Now tried to contact the local police station to inquire about the shooting and the continued detention of Sithu Kaung Myat’s mother—who, it is believed, is in poor health—but the calls went unanswered.

Since the February 1 coup, the junta has frequently held the relatives of targeted politicians and activists hostage when troops have been unable to locate the individual they intended to arrest.

More than 1,000 civilians have been killed and nearly 7,000 continue to be imprisoned by the coup regime, according to data released by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) on Friday.

The junta has declared the AAPP an illegal organisation and rejected their data as exaggerated.

Activists say they fear for the life of a students’ union chairperson after she was detained by junta forces on Sunday afternoon while travelling on a long distance bus.

Aye Nandar Soe, 21, was stopped and arrested at the Yadanabon bridge connecting Mandalay and Sagaing regions. She leads the students’ union at the Sagaing University of Education, where she is in her fourth year of studies.

Her friends say her whereabouts are unknown and believe she was arrested because of her opposition to the military’s February coup. Her detention comes as the junta steps up its crackdown against student and youth activists across the country.

The junta has not made a public announcement about Aye Nandar Soe’s arrest or the grounds on which she is being detained. Many other student activists who were detained recently have been charged with incitement.

“Our comrade Aye Nandar Soe is being detained… but we still do not know where she is being held,” the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), of which Aye Nandar Soe’s union is a member, said in a statement.

“We fear for our comrade Aye Nandar Soe's life and safety,” the statement said.

An ABFSU spokesperson said he had no information about where she was travelling when she was detained.

The military has stepped up arrests of anti-junta student activists in recent weeks, but the exact number detained is unknown, the spokesperson added.

“Many students from the ABFSU and other students’ unions were arrested, but the ones who were not will continue to revolt against the military,” he told Myanmar Now.

On Sunday three young activists, including two members of the ABFSU, were detained in Yangon and accused of being involved in bank robberies to fund armed resistance against the junta.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 1,122 people have now been killed by the junta and 6,698 others are in detention.

Following the addition of two more names to the list of 54 journalists and media workers currently held in the military junta’s jails in Myanmar, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reminds the international community of the need for targeted sanctions against those responsible for the growing terror.

Mizzima News former editor-in-chief Myo Thant was arrested yesterday in Kangye Htaung, a township in southwestern Myanmar’s Irrawaddy River delta region. RSF has learned that the security forces went to the township after being told he was there, and threatened to take his aunt if he did not surrender. He was finally arrested at round 8 pm.

Officials from the Sintgaing central police station charged a detained ex-journalist with incitement on Wednesday for allegedly violating Section 505a of the penal code.

Thirty-five-year-old Win Naing Oo, who formerly worked as a chief correspondent for Channel Mandalay, was arrested along with his wife Thu Thu from a mango farm in Mandalay’s Sintgaing Township on August 31, according to a family friend. Thu Thu was reportedly released on Thursday evening.

Win Naing Oo stopped working in journalism after Myanmar’s February 1 military coup.

“He hasn’t done any journalism work during this time. I don’t know why he was arrested,” the friend told Myanmar Now.

Myanmar Now called the Sintgaing police station for further information on the case. The officer on duty said that Win Naing Oo was being held there and confirmed that he had been charged under Section 505a.

A Sintgaing local said that the couple had been living at the mango farm where they were arrested, but that they may not have been the junta’s initial target.

“The police were there to arrest their guest. They were arrested along with the guest,” said the local, who did not elaborate on the guest’s identity.

Win Naing Oo was previously charged with defamation in May 2019 after he was accused of violating Section 66d of Myanmar’s Telecommunications Law for broadcasting a news story on Channel Mandalay regarding military confiscation of farmland near Pyin Oo Lwin.

More than 100 journalists have been arrested since the coup, and many of them charged with violating 505a. Few have been released. Many have been sentenced in closed court hearings, with convictions for violating the statute carrying a prison term of up to three years.

At least 6,572 people have been arrested by the junta since the coup, according to a statement released by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners on Thursday.

Myanmar’s junta has detained human rights activist Ko Kyaw Minn Htut, his two-year-old child, wife and younger brother in Monywa, Sagaing Region.

The Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA) said its member, his brother Ko Kyaw Minn Aung and a man who was living with them were detained on Monday afternoon in Nandawon ward.

Ko Kyaw Minn Htut’s wife Daw Khin San Hlaing and their son were also detained by junta forces on Sunday, MATA said in a statement on Tuesday.

MATA is the civil society alliance formed by over 400 organizations across the country for the implementation of transparency and accountability in the extractive industries.

Ko Kyaw Minn Htut had been working for environmental protection and human rights and participated in the non-violent movement for democracy after the military coup, MATA stated.

“We strongly ask for the freedom of Kyaw Minn Htut and all detained people who participated in the non-violent pro-democracy movement without [causing] any harm,” the group said, while calling for an end to military rule.

Killings, arrests and torture by regime forces continue daily across the country as the junta escalates its crackdown on dissidents and supporters of the shadow National Unity Government.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Ma Thuzar, a journalist held arbitrarily since her arrest for no clear reason in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, a week ago after four months in hiding.

Her family and colleagues spent five days without any news of her after she was snatched by police as she left her home on the morning of 1 September. The police finally confirmed on 5 September that she had been arrested, but they have yet to give the judicial grounds for her arrest or say where she is being held.

Ma Thuzar, who worked for the Myanmar Pressphoto Agency and the Friday Times News Journal, told RSF before her arrest that she filmed many of the major street protests that were triggered by the military coup on 1 February. It was partly as a result of her videos, broadcast live on the Friday Times’s online networks, that this media outlet was closed on 16 April.

Two weeks later, on 1 May, around 40 police officers raided her home with the aim of arresting her under a warrant issued by the Yangon region military command. In her absence, they arrested her husband, a retired journalist, who was released five days later. It was this raid – which the Yangon region military command refused to confirm when reached by RSF – that forced Ma Thuzar to go into hiding.

51 journalists now detained

“We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Ma Thuzar, whose arrest and detention are completely arbitrary,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “The way she has been treated reflects the illegal, brutal and inhuman treatment to which the military junta has subjected all journalists in Myanmar for the past seven months. In so doing, Myanmar is violating the most elementary legal principles and, for this reason, we call on the international community to impose targeted sanctions against those responsible for these repeated abuses.”

According to a tally verified by RSF, Ma Thuzar’s detention brings the number of journalists currently detained in Myanmar to 51. Zaw Moe Oo, a journalist who freelances for the pro-military news agency Eleven Media, was also arrested at her home in the southern Myeik region on 1 September but was released two days later.

Last month, RSF reported that Sithu Aung Myint, a political commentor for the magazine Frontier Myanmar and radio Voice Of America, was arrested by police on 15 August at an apartment in Yangon’s Bahan Township, where he had been hiding. Htet Htet Khine, the presenter of programme called “Khan Sar Kyi” (Burmese for “Feel it”) for BBC Media Action, was also arrested in the same raid.

Myanmar is currently ranked 140th out of 180 countries in RSF's World Press Freedom Index.

Min Thukha Kyaw, the former chair of the Dagon University Students' Union, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a military tribunal on Monday, a family member has confirmed.

“He called me during his appearance at the tribunal with the help of a prison staff member. He told me he had been sentenced,” said the relative, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Min Thukha Kyaw was arrested three months ago and charged with incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

It was unclear at the time of reporting what additional charges had been laid against him that would account for the length of his sentence.

Min Thukha Kyaw was arrested at his home in Yangon’s North Okkalapa Township on June 6 and accused of receiving military and explosives training from the Kachin Independence Army.

He has been held in Yangon’s Insein Prison since his arrest and has been denied access to a lawyer. His family has also been unable to meet with him, the relative said.

“He lost that legal right [to hire a lawyer] because martial law was imposed,” said lawyer Thet Naung.

Myanmar Now called officials at the Prisons Department and Insein Prison for comment on Min Thukha Kyaw’s case, but did not receive a response.

Martial law was declared in several Yangon townships, including North Okkalapa, in March amid massive protests against the coup staged by the military the previous month.

A military tribunal with sweeping powers, including the power to impose the death penalty, has replaced the judiciary in the affected townships.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 1,000 people have been killed and nearly 8,000 have been detained since the military seized power on February 1.

A resident of Yangon’s Hlaing Township known locally for providing oxygen concentrators for free was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of being a member of the anti-regime resistance movement.

Khine Lwin, 40, was in her home on Butaryone Street when it was suddenly raided by junta troops at around 2pm, according to her daughter.

“Twenty plainclothes forces stormed our home and went through our things. They took all the phones and laptops in our house,” the 15-year-old daughter wrote on Facebook.

A source close to the family said that those who carried out the raid shouted that Khine Lwin was being arrested for committing murder and terrorism.

It was unclear what charges would be laid against the mother of two, whose whereabouts since her arrest remain unknown.

The regime has stepped up its efforts to detain opponents of its rule since imposing new restrictions in June on the pretext of containing the spread of Covid-19.

The third wave of the pandemic has claimed thousands of lives in the country so far, mainly due to shortages of medical oxygen supplies.

On Sunday, well-known political commentator Sithu Aung Myint was arrested in a Yangon apartment during a nightly check of registered guest lists.

His lawyer and family members said they have had no contact with him since he was taken to an interrogation centre immediately after his arrest.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), at least 5,759 people have been arrested, charged or sentenced by the regime since it seized power on February 1.

As of August 19, the junta has also killed at least 1,007 people, according to AAPP figures.

Security forces have detained more than 30 youths in Myanmar’s largest city Yangon as authorities conducted a series of raids in response to the country’s shadow government warning of a “D-Day” operation to oust the junta nearly seven months after it seized power through a coup.

Five people, including a couple that own a popular noodle shop, were arrested late on Monday in Yangon’s Sanchaung township, a resident of the area told RFA’s Myanmar Service, speaking on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal.

“They began the searches around 4:00 p.m., first near Thayettaw Road and Tayokekyaung Road, before moving to Zeyawaddy, Moe Ma Kha, and Gandamar Roads. They later searched the noodle shop on Ma Kyee Kyee Road,” the resident said.

“They conducted the searches from until around 3:30 a.m. I believe more than a dozen people were arrested. Every time they made an arrest, they would take the person to the police station and then come back again to make more arrests.”

Authorities also searched adjacent roads in the area and arrested several youths from New People’s Ward 4 during a check on household registration documents, residents said.

Other sources told RFA that more than a dozen people were also arrested Monday in Yangon’s Thaketa, Ahlone and Thingangyun townships.

“The military was searching for and arresting people last evening in Thingangyun township and other areas—about 20 people were arrested,” said a Thingangyun resident who declined to be named.

“What we heard was that they got information from one of those arrested about an online app that young people are using to communicate with each other. From that app, they found out the connections and made the arrests.”

RFA was unable to verify the exact number of arrests, but they come amid several in recent days that included the detention of four young men during a raid Monday morning in Yangon’s Tha-maing Myothit district. ‘D-Day’ operation

Authorities appear to be intensifying a crackdown on anti-junta activities that began soon after the military seized power from Myanmar’s democratically elected government in a Feb. 1 putsch. In the nearly seven months since the coup, security forces have killed 1,014 civilians and arrested at least 5,851, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

The junta says it had to unseat Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) government because the party engineered a landslide victory in Myanmar’s November 2020 election through widespread voter fraud. It has yet to present evidence of its claims and public unrest is at an all-time high.

The NUG recently announced plans to set a date for a “D-Day” operation to purge the country of the junta through a popular uprising supported by a network of People’s Defense Force (PDF) militia groups formed to protect the public from the military.

On Monday night, a bomb went off at a military-owned garment factory in Ward 7 of Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar township where troops had recently set up camp, wounding at least two soldiers, according to a statement issued about 15 minutes after the blast by the Hlaing Tharyar guerrilla group (CGF).

In the statement, the CGF claimed responsibility for what it said was a remote-controlled explosion in retaliation for an attack by the military earlier on Monday.

A resident of Hlaing Tharyar township confirmed the bombing on Monday and said it was followed by what sounded like a short firefight.

“There was a bomb blast at about 10:00 last night … followed by about 20 gunshots and then another rounds fired,” the resident said.

“There were no arrests of civilians, but armed soldiers were patrolling the streets on motorcycles as well as on foot in civilian clothes … There are checkpoints everywhere.”

Situation intensifying

Shootings and bombings are on the rise after the NUG’s D-Day announcement, and the junta has responded by stepping up security measures in nearly every city. The military regime recently appointed police chiefs to replace the Minister for Transport and Communications in all states and divisions, including Yangon.

Sources told RFA that the junta has been using loudspeakers in major cities in recent days to warn people not to support the NUG government, demand that militia groups surrender, and offer rewards to those who provide information about the PDF.

Political analyst Than Soe Naing told RFA that the military’s efforts are unlikely to head off a challenge to its hold on power.

“Civil war is just beginning. The situation is becoming intense, and I believe the momentum will only get stronger after D-Day,” he said.

“In the meantime, we hear about fighting daily while the military is checking visitor lists in cities throughout the country and carrying out arrests … I think that as soon as the D-Day program begins, various movements will spring up nationwide.”

Myanmar's military government has arrested two more local journalists, army-owned television reported on Saturday, the latest among dozens of detentions in a sweeping crackdown on the media since a February 1 coup.

Sithu Aung Myint, a columnist for news site Frontier Myanmar and commentator with Voice of America radio, and Htet Htet Khine, a freelance producer for BBC Media Action, were arrested on August 15, Myawaddy TV reported.

Sithu Aung Myint was charged with sedition and spreading false information that Myawaddy said was critical of the junta and had urged people to join strikes and back outlawed opposition groups.

Htet Htet Khine was accused of harboring Sithu Aung Myint, a criminal suspect, and working for and supporting a shadow National Unity Government.

BBC Media Action said in a statement it was concerned about Htet Htet Khine's safety and the charges against her and was closely monitoring the situation.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the pair were being held incommunicado.

"We strongly condemn the arbitrary conditions of their detention, which reflect the brutality with which the military junta treats journalists," said its Asia-Pacific desk head Daniel Bastard.

Myanmar remains fraught with instability and opposition to army rule, under which more than 1,000 people have been killed, according to an activist group that has tracked killings by security forces.

The military, which has revoked the licenses of many news outlets, says it respects the role of media but will not allow news reporting it deems false or likely to create public unrest.

A report by the Committee to Protect Journalists last month said Myanmar's rulers had effectively criminalized independent journalism.

Human Rights Watch late last month said the army government had arrested 98 journalists since the coup and should stop prosecuting media staff. Of those arrested, 46 remained in custody as of the end of July.

A youth leader from the Mandalay Protest Alliance Force, was arrested by the junta’s forces while driving near Mandalay University at around 5pm on Monday.

Plainclothes soldiers, arriving in domestic vehicles, stopped a motorbike driven by activist Kyaw Thiha—who is in his 20s—beat him, and took him with them at gunpoint, according to an eyewitness.

Thura Aung, a friend who had been staying with him and another leader of the alliance, said that over 20 troops later inspected Kyaw Thiha’s former home in Patheingyi Township at 8pm that night.

“They also raided the place where we were staying. We’re all on the run now. I still don’t know about our other comrades, but I’m in a safe place now,” Thura Aung told Myanmar Now.

The Mandalay Protest Alliance Force has been a frequent target of the brutal crackdowns by the military on anti-coup resistance.

Junta vehicles drove into the protest column in both May and June, injuring demonstrators. Six protesters including a university lecturer were arrested near Mandalay University on the morning of June 14 after the column was hit by a car driven by military personnel.

The Mandalay Protest Alliance Force formed when multiple Mandalay protest columns joined forces to revolt against the dictatorship. They include Daung Sit Thi (Peacock Warriors); All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU); Academics; Labourers; Farmers; Mandalay University Students; BEHS (7) Students; and Sein Pan.

Thura Aung said that they would not be stopping their resistance to military rule.

“They can arrest us all they want but they can’t break our revolutionary spirit. We’re not backing down, not by an inch. We will fight for the truth until the end,” he said.

Two pro-democracy activists died and three others were seriously injured in Myanmar when they jumped from a building in Yangon to avoid capture by junta authorities, witnesses said Wednesday, while the father of one of those killed said he was told his son survived the impact and was beaten to death by police.

Ye Min Oo and a woman, Wai Wai Myint, also called Pan Thee, lost their lives Tuesday night when they and three friends jumped from the roof of a building as junta forces stormed their apartment in Botahtaung township in Myanmar’s largest city.

The three who survived the jump—Wai Phyo Aung, Thiha Kaung Set, and Poe Kyaw Kyaw—were arrested by police and taken with the bodies of those killed to a military hospital in Mingaladon township in northern Yangon.

Tin Zaw—the father of Ye Min Oo, who died Tuesday—said he was told by witnesses that his son was still alive after the fall.

"Immediately after the fall, my son was dying, not dead. Then police officers beat them up, and my son died after the beating,” he told RFA in an exclusive interview. “I got that information from witnesses and residents.”

A neighborhood resident told RFA on Wednesday that two of those who jumped called out three or four times for water and then died, while the other three remained motionless after they hit the ground.

“Because they fell from a height, they must have broken their limbs,” he said.

The neighbor, who spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, told RFA the fleeling activists apparently got trapped on the rooftops of the old buildings.

“You could climb up to the roof, and the kids must have thought they could run across the rooftops. But there were only four buildings you could run across like that,” he said.

“There was a five-storey building blocking their path on one side and an eight-storey building on the other, and they must have run this way and that, and finally when they couldn’t escape they must have jumped,” he said.

Dead and injured taken to hospital

Military forces ordered community service workers to take both the two who died and the three survivors to a 1,000-bed military hospital in Mingaladon, a member of the Lin Let Social Welfare Association told RFA.

“The two who died were dead when we got there,” the charity worker said.

“We were sure they were dead because we made all the necessary checks required to see if they were still alive,” she said. “One of the injured had a broken leg, and another had a head injury and had to be taken to the hospital’s neurology center.”

Soe Myat Thu, the husband of 29-year-old Wai Wai Myint, said he hopes the military will give him back his wife’s body so that he can bury her according to her own request.

“I’m trying to get my wife’s body back, but we are under the rule of a military coup, so what can I do?” he asked. “If they refuse to release her body, there is nothing we can do about it.”

“She always said, ‘Don’t cremate my body when I die. Please bury me in a grave,’ and I want to fulfill that last wish. I don’t care about anything else,” he said.

A police report now circulating on social media says the raid on the activists’ apartment was carried out by a team led by Tactical Commander Col. Soe Tun of the ruling Military Council, while a military press release on Wednesday confirmed that two had been killed and three injured in the operation, with hand grenades and bomb-making materials recovered during the raid.

An independent scout

Ye Min Oo, who was born in 1994, was not connected with Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), People’s Defense Force (PDF), or any other formally organized group, his father said.

Instead, he had worked independently with friends in a scouting unit gathering intelligence on pro-junta informers and other military targets, Tin Zaw said.

“He never expressed any political opinions, but after the February coup, he became actively involved in anti-coup protests, and although I did not forbid this as a parent, I warned him to be mindful and careful,” he said.

“My son stood and fought for his beliefs, and now he has fallen in the fight,” he said.

Tin Zaw said Ye Min Oo’s fate was the outcome of the military overthrow of the country’s democratically elected government on unfounded claims of voter fraud in the country’s November 2020 election.

The junta has yet to provide evidence of its claims and has violently suppressed nationwide demonstrations calling for a return to civilian rule. According to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 948 civilians were killed by police and soldiers between Feb. 1 and Aug. 10.

“These kids were pushed into the struggle by the Feb. 1 coup. They were pure and innocent youths. I am very proud of my son,” Tin Zaw said.

A doctor who was detained for taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against the junta died early on Sunday morning after contracting Covid-19 in detention, a colleague told Myanmar Now.

Dr Maung Maung Nyein Tun, a 45-year-old lecturer of surgery at Mandalay Medical University, was arrested on June 13 along with his wife, Dr Swe Zin Oo, while the pair were staying at a safe house in an attempt to evade capture by the junta.

He tested positive for the virus while being detained at the Mandalay Palace interrogation center on July 19, but instead of sending him to hospital, authorities held him for two weeks at a police station as his condition worsened, the colleague said.

Police only allowed him to get treatment, at the hospital in the city’s Obo prison, on July 28, when his blood oxygen levels plummeted to 84%.

“They kept him quarantined at the No. 9 police station for two weeks. He was sharing a cell with a person who had lost his sense of smell but the junta said he was negative,” the colleague said.

“They didn’t send him to the hospital even when his SpO2 level fell. No dexamethasone injection was given either,” the colleague said, referring to a lifesaving drug used to treat Covid patients. “They only gave him some oxygen in captivity. They only sent him to Mandalay General Hospital when it was too late.”

The colleague and others repeatedly petitioned the authorities to send him to a facility better equipped to treat him, rather than the prison hospital, but to no avail.

Dr Maung Maung Nyein Tun’s mother confirmed his death on her Facebook page. He died at the Mandalay General Hospital intensive care unit at 6:38am on August 8, she said in her post.

The junta accused the doctor of having connections to both Dr Htar Htar Lin, the detained former head of Myanmar’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout, and Dr Zaw Wai Soe, the health minister of the underground Nation Unity Government.

Photos of Dr Maung Maung Nyein published in state media after his capture showed him with several bruises on his face.

Dr Swe Zin Oo, his wife and the superintendent of Mandalay General Hospital, has also reportedly contracted Covid-19 in detention. She is still being held at Mandalay Palace.

Both doctors were charged under section 505 of the Penal Code for incitement, section 124 for sedition and section 17 for unlawful association on June 14.

A 22-year-old anti-coup protester who was shot and injured before being detained during a raid in Mandalay on Saturday morning has died in military custody, two protest organisers have told Myanmar Now.

Ye Yint was among nine protesters who were detained when about 30 soldiers and police raided a house they were staying in in Patheingyi Township’s Nan Oo Lwin neighbourhood.

He was shot in the pelvis while another young protester, 22-year-old Khaing Tun, was shot in the leg during the raid.

“Two kids tried to run in panic and one was shot in his leg,” said one of the protest organisers. “The other one got shot in the back and the bullet went cleanly through his pelvis.”

The detainees were brought to Mandalay Palace, which houses the military’s Central Command headquarters, and Ye Yint’s family was told at around 4pm that he had died, the second organiser said: “His wife told us.”

As of 8pm, the family still had not been able to retrieve his body, the organiser added. Myanmar Now was unable to reach his relatives for comment.

Three other protesters were detained in Mandalay on the morning that Ye Yint and Khaing Tun were shot.

They were captured in Mahar Aung Myay Township after a military-owned vehicle rammed into their motorcycles as they rode back from a march led by Mandalar University students. One of those detained, Zin Myo Khant, is 17 years old.

Late last month Thu Thu Zin, 25, was shot in the head and killed at a protest near the Mahamuni pagoda in Mandalay. Her family had to hold her funeral without her body because the military would not let them retrieve it.

Two doctors were arrested in Mandalay last week, offering further evidence of the regime’s targeting of healthcare workers despite a spiralling public health crisis.

Dr. Thet Htay, 41, and Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet, 21, were both viciously beaten as they were arrested for taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against military rule, witnesses told Myanmar Now.

Dr. Thet Htay was on his way home from a charity hospital where he volunteered his services when he was detained by police and soldiers in Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi Township at around 2pm on July 16.

Later that night, he was taken back to the hospital, where soldiers confiscated some of his belongings, including his laptop.

“His face was beaten to a pulp,” said Dr. Soe Thura Zaw, a fellow CDM participant who spoke to witnesses at the hospital.

Dr. Thet Htay previously worked at Mandalay General Hospital but practised exclusively as a volunteer surgeon after joining the CDM following the February 1 coup.

Among his patients were victims of the junta’s brutal crackdowns on protesters, according to other members of Mandalay’s medical community.

Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet was arrested three days earlier, on July 13, when around 20 soldiers and police stormed his home in Mandalay’s Maha Aungmyay Township.

His brother was also detained at the time but was later released.

Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet was teaching medical students online as part of a program organized by the shadow National Unity Government (NUG). He was also providing online medical consultations for Covid-19 patients until his arrest.

Dr. Soe Thura Zaw speculated that Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet was targeted for his role in the NUG’s medical training program, which mainly features lectures by instructors based in the UK. The regime likely saw his involvement as a provocation, he said.

Both men are currently being held in an interrogation centre, according to family members who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity.

They added that attempts to contact them have so far been unsuccessful.

The arrests come as Myanmar is facing a major public health crisis resulting from the junta’s mismanagement of the response to the third wave of Covid-19 in the country.

On Monday, military officials pretending to be Covid-19 patients arrested three doctors who responded to a request for emergency treatment in Yangon’s North Dagon Township.

Meanwhile, doctors in Mandalay say that the junta is spreading misinformation, accusing doctors taking part in the CDM of causing more Covid-19 patients to die.

“They’re raiding oxygen plants. They’re arresting doctors. And then they say that doctors taking part in the CDM are killing patients? It doesn’t even make any sense. Doctors have been saving lives by volunteering everywhere that they can. The real killers are the military council,” said Dr. Soe Thura Zaw.

On Monday, the Mandalay Health Society released a statement condemning the arrests of doctors amid the Covid-19 crisis, demanding that they be released as soon as possible.

Around 900 CDM doctors have been treating Covid-19 patients by telephone under the NUG’s supervision, according to Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, the NUG’s health minister. Around 2,000 final-year medical students have also volunteered to assist, he said.

Two doctors were arrested in Mandalay last week, offering further evidence of the regime’s targeting of healthcare workers despite a spiralling public health crisis.

Dr. Thet Htay, 41, and Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet, 21, were both viciously beaten as they were arrested for taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against military rule, witnesses told Myanmar Now.

Dr. Thet Htay was on his way home from a charity hospital where he volunteered his services when he was detained by police and soldiers in Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi Township at around 2pm on July 16.

Later that night, he was taken back to the hospital, where soldiers confiscated some of his belongings, including his laptop.

“His face was beaten to a pulp,” said Dr. Soe Thura Zaw, a fellow CDM participant who spoke to witnesses at the hospital.

Dr. Thet Htay previously worked at Mandalay General Hospital but practised exclusively as a volunteer surgeon after joining the CDM following the February 1 coup.

Among his patients were victims of the junta’s brutal crackdowns on protesters, according to other members of Mandalay’s medical community.

Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet was arrested three days earlier, on July 13, when around 20 soldiers and police stormed his home in Mandalay’s Maha Aungmyay Township.

His brother was also detained at the time but was later released.

Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet was teaching medical students online as part of a program organized by the shadow National Unity Government (NUG). He was also providing online medical consultations for Covid-19 patients until his arrest.

Dr. Soe Thura Zaw speculated that Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet was targeted for his role in the NUG’s medical training program, which mainly features lectures by instructors based in the UK. The regime likely saw his involvement as a provocation, he said.

Both men are currently being held in an interrogation centre, according to family members who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity.

They added that attempts to contact them have so far been unsuccessful.

The arrests come as Myanmar is facing a major public health crisis resulting from the junta’s mismanagement of the response to the third wave of Covid-19 in the country.

On Monday, military officials pretending to be Covid-19 patients arrested three doctors who responded to a request for emergency treatment in Yangon’s North Dagon Township.

Meanwhile, doctors in Mandalay say that the junta is spreading misinformation, accusing doctors taking part in the CDM of causing more Covid-19 patients to die.

“They’re raiding oxygen plants. They’re arresting doctors. And then they say that doctors taking part in the CDM are killing patients? It doesn’t even make any sense. Doctors have been saving lives by volunteering everywhere that they can. The real killers are the military council,” said Dr. Soe Thura Zaw.

On Monday, the Mandalay Health Society released a statement condemning the arrests of doctors amid the Covid-19 crisis, demanding that they be released as soon as possible.

Around 900 CDM doctors have been treating Covid-19 patients by telephone under the NUG’s supervision, according to Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, the NUG’s health minister. Around 2,000 final-year medical students have also volunteered to assist, he said.

Regime forces shot three people, killing at least one, during a crackdown on an anti-coup demonstration in Mandalay on Tuesday, according to protesters who managed to escape.

Around 20 people were taking part in a flash mob protest near the east gate of Mandalay’s famous Mahamuni pagoda when they suddenly came under attack at around noon, witnesses told Myanmar Now.

Without warning, junta forces in plain clothes opened fire with live ammunition, shooting two men and a woman as they attempted to flee.

One of the victims, 25-year-old Thu Thu Zin, was shot in the head and died instantly. It was unclear if the two men, one of whom was shot in the neck, were still alive.

“The girl [Thu Thu Zin] fell down right before my eyes. I couldn’t save her, as I was running for my life, too,” said a protester who later returned to the scene to speak to other witnesses.

“According to some vendors in front of the pagoda who saw everything, it’s very likely that all three were fatally shot. They were dragged into the pagoda compound right after they fell,” the protester told Myanmar Now.

He added that police later confirmed Thu Thu Zin’s death.

The protesters were members of the Mya Taung protest column, which continues to stage peaceful demonstrations against the regime despite its routine use of lethal force.

The group’s protests are regularly joined by a wide cross-section of local people, including student activists, monks, and ordinary citizens.

Members of the group condemned the junta’s brutal violence against unarmed protesters.

“If they just wanted to break up the crowd, they could have done that by shooting into the air,” said one protester. “I hope that karma will catch up with them one day.”

He added that the military’s latest atrocity against civilians would have no impact on the group’s activities.

“We’re going to keep going until the end,” he said.

Tuesday’s crackdown was the third in Mandalay so far this month. On July 13, seven protesters were arrested when the regime broke up a joint march by the Mya Taung protest column and students from Mandalar University.

On July 20, two men were shot and a woman was arrested during a crackdown on a protest by a group called “Phoenixes from the Ashes”.

According to Mandalay residents, the army has stationed troops at public places, such as schools, hospitals, and pagodas, around the city to deter shows of resistance to military rule.

However, protests continue on a regular basis, even as the regime deploys plainclothes forces to launch surprise attacks, in some cases by plowing into crowds with civilian vehicles.

Meanwhile, surveillance has also increased, with pedestrians and cyclists being ordered at military checkpoints to show their phones, which are carefully scrutinized for evidence of involvement in anti-military activities.

Aung Mya Than, a reporter for the Ayeyarwady Times, was arrested at 11:00pm on July 10 at his home in Maubin following his reporting of a bombing by unidentified perpetrators in his home town. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the military junta’s continuous abuse of the media and calls on the military to release Than immediately.

Than was one of 14 journalists released on June 30 from detention across Myanmar. He was arrested on May 25 on charges under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code and held for 36 days. He is currently being held at the Maubin City Police State, according to the Ayeyarwady Times’ editor-in-chief, Salai Thant Sin.

On the morning of his arrest on June 10, Than was reporting on a bombing by unidentified perpetrators in Maubin.

It is unclear when Than was released from detention and whether the Section 505(a) charges against him were officially dropped. Radio Free Asia reports that 26 reporters are currently in hiding due to warrants being put out for their arrest. Many others have been forced to leave their homes and seek asylum with friends or family because the military have allegedly raided their homes.

Section 505(a) of the Penal Code is a broad and vague law that effectively allows the military to arrest journalists for doing their jobs. The law criminalises all attempts to “hinder, disturb, damage the motivation, discipline, health and conduct of the military personnel and government employees” and these subjective phrases can and have been used to quell dissent during Myanmar’s civil war.

Since the start of the military coup in February 2021, 89 domestic and international reporters have been arrested and 37 are still detained, according to Reporting ASEAN. Out of the all the arrests, 28 of them have been charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code. The media have been explicitly targeted by the military junta for reporting on the frontlines throughout the coup.

A five-year-old girl whose father helped organize protests against Myanmar’s junta was forced to endure stress positions during more than two weeks in detention, according to her father, making her what observers say was the country’s youngest known political prisoner under the military regime that seized power in February.

On June 13, security forces in Mandalay region raided the home of Soe Htay, a local activist who had led demonstrations in Mogok city against the junta following its Feb. 1 takeover of Myanmar’s democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government.

Soe Htay had already gone into hiding with his two sons, and when authorities failed to locate him, they arrested his wife Nan Kyi Kyi Khine and their daughters Theint Sandi Soe, a 17-year-old third-year law student, and Su Htet Waing, a five-year-old girl. Arresting relatives of wanted protesters has been a common practice.

The protests Soe Htay had organized in Mogok were part of a nationwide backlash against the military following its coup, which it said was necessary because the NLD’s landslide victory in the country’s November 2020 elections was the result of widespread voter fraud. Regime leaders have yet to produce any evidence of their claims, while soldiers have violently cracked down on the demonstrations.

According to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), the military has killed 898 people and arrested 5,127 in connection with the anti-junta protests. Of those, 2,269—including Su Htet Waing—were freed from prisons across the country as part of a general amnesty on June 30, although observers say the release was little more than a stunt by the military to gain international recognition.

Soe Htay, who was reunited with Su Htet Waing and remains in hiding, recently told RFA’s Myanmar Service that his daughter was left “traumatized” because of the poor treatment she was subjected to during her 18 days in detention.

He said Su Htet Waing told him that she and others were regularly forced to assume the “ponzan” posture—a half-sitting, half-standing stress position—during roll call, and that she “hated the people” who ordered her to do it.

Su Htet Waing “knows nothing about politics” and had only called for the release of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained along with several other party officials shortly after the military takeover, Soe Htay said.

“She doesn’t understand the politics we were discussing,” the NLD member and leader of the Mogok Township Peace and Open Society told RFA.

Soe Htay said he recently learned from staff at the Mogok Prison that his older daughter is enduring “serious health problems” while she remains in detention. He said that he has had no direct contact with his family members since the day of their arrest.

“My eldest daughter was on medication, suffering from rheumatism when she was arrested. On the day of her arrest, she was taken away with the only clothing she had on, and she didn’t have any of her medicine,” he said.

“She had to kneel down, handcuffed, on the concrete floor for two or three hours during questioning … and now she is in critical condition, according to what a friend in the prison told me.”

Attempts by RFA to contact junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun for comment on the arrest of Soe Htay’s family members went unanswered Friday.

Su Htet Waing reunites with her father, Soe Htay, following her release from detention, June 30, 2021. Family photo Su Htet Waing reunites with her father, Soe Htay, following her release from detention, June 30, 2021. Family photo

‘Illegal’ detention Speaking to RFA this week, lawyer Khin Maung Zaw said arresting a five-year-old is “illegal.”

“Even if children under the age of 18 commit crimes, they are not allowed to go to jail. They are not allowed to be held behind bars,” he said.

“Arresting a five-year-old is totally unlawful. It’s a violation of human rights, too. There is nothing this military regime wouldn’t hesitate to do if their hold on power was threatened. Not even children will be spared.”

Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe, Minister for Women, Youth and Children for Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), said Su Htet Waing will be recorded as the youngest political prisoner under the military regime.

“Such arrests constitute war crimes and those responsible must be held accountable,” she said.

“This arrest and detention are a violation of childrens’ rights and the law. The child is too young and can be left deeply traumatized. We are working with professional counselors.”

Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe also condemned what she called “hostage-taking” by the junta, adding that by NUG’s count there are around 80 minors currently in detention.

Soe Htay told RFA he is determined to fight to the end against the military, even though his family has been arrested.

“I am determined to root out this dictatorship,” he said.

“I see the suffering of my daughters and wife as a sacrifice to this revolution. It is from these feelings that I get the strength to fight for a speedy end to the revolution.”

A local protest leader from Mogok in Mandalay Region said on Tuesday that his wife and daughter have both been sentenced to three years in prison for incitement.

The two women, who were arrested exactly one month ago, were accused of violating Section 505a of the Penal Code for allegedly inciting riots. Their sentences were handed down by a prison court in Mogok, protest leader Soe Htay said.

Writing on Facebook soon after learning about their sentences, Soe Htay said that his wife and daughter had taken part in protests against the junta’s numerous abuses, including arbitrary arrests, human rights violations, inhumane treatment of women and children, and killing of its own citizens.

Junta authorities in Mogok were attempting to arrest Soe Htay, who is a striking schoolteacher and local anti-regime activist, when they took his 44-year-old wife and two daughters into custody on June 13.

The younger daughter, Su Htet Wine, was still in detention when she turned five two weeks later. She was released on June 30, two days after her birthday.

Earlier this month, Soe Htay expressed concern about the health of his older daughter, 17-year-old Theint Sandi Soe, who was reportedly suffering from a potentially life-threatening condition.

According to Soe Htay, she was receiving weekly treatment for rheumatoid arthritis before her arrest. He said a person with connections to the place where she was being held had told him that she was mistreated while under interrogation.

Myanmar’s military routinely targets the families of individuals opposed to its rule, in some cases detaining the children or elderly relatives of those who manage to evade arrest.

According to figures compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), 76 people have been held hostage by the junta, with the youngest being just two years old.

The military council, which has designated AAPP as an illegal organization, has not commented on those cases.

A jailed student protester from Magway who had his hand amputated after a brutal attack by soldiers in late March applied for bail on Thursday, his family has said.

Hlyan Phyo Aung, a 22-year-old civil engineering student who faces an incitement charge, was expecting to be freed along with more than 2,000 others on Wednesday.

Instead he had his first court hearing on Thursday after it was postponed eight times. His family said they hoped the request would be granted on medical grounds because of his serious injuries.

“I just want to ask them to be reasonable and stop this madness,” said a relative.

The student was hospitalised after a soldier shot and destroyed his right hand at a rally in Magway on March 27. After the hand was amputated he was sent to Magway Prison, even though doctors said he urgently needed eye surgery.

“It doesn’t matter if one is educated or wealthy or not, a person is a person and should be treated as such,” the relative said. “Would they treat him the same way if he was their blood?” Thirty-six detainees who were still under police investigation and facing court hearings for protesting were released from Magway Prison on Wednesday.

Two of them were Hlyan Phyo Aung’s cellmates, who were detained at the same protest as him and facing the same charge under the same lawsuit, the relative said.

The cellmates had been helping Hlyan Phyo Aung, who has limited mobility, with his daily routine.

“Now he’s alone in his cell,” the relative said. “He had already packed his stuff thinking he would be released along with his cellmates. We just met with his friends who were released in front of the prison today.”

In addition to losing his right hand, Hlyan Phyo Aung was hit in his right eye with a blast of gunpowder. Both of his thighs and his left arm were perforated by rubber bullets. After receiving two months of treatment at a military hospital, doctors said he would still need physical therapy as well as surgery for his eye.

The relative said they feared the attention Hlyan Phyo Aung’s case has received was the reason the regime has not yet released him.

The underground National Unity Government has publicised his treatment as part of plans to submit evidence against the regime to the International Criminal Court.

“Every single word of support for him turns into poison for the military since this information has seeped to the international community, making it a ‘famous’ case,” the relative said.

“That’s probably why they’re not releasing him yet.”

The Observatory has received information about a wave of arbitrary arrests targeting lawyers in Myanmar. According to the information received, between May 24 and June 10, 2021, the military junta’s security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained five lawyers who provided legal defense to protesters and other individuals arrested following the February 1 coup d’état. Four of the five lawyers have been charged with “incitement”, under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code [1].

In the evening of May 27, 2021, Ayeyar Lin Htut was arrested at the Hinthada District Court and charged with incitement under Article 505(a). At the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal, she was being held in Hinthada Prison in Ayeyarwady [Irrawaddy] Region. Ayeyar Lin Htut was representing political prisoners arrested following the coup.

The Observatory condemns the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of lawyers, which is inconsistent with international human rights standards, including the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, [2] which guarantee the protection of lawyers in the course of their work and prohibit their prosecution in relation to cases they defend. The Observatory expresses grave concern over the high risk of torture, enforced disappearance, and summary execution the five lawyers are facing while in custody. The Observatory remains concerned by the ongoing actions by the military junta to curtail fundamental rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, and to a fair trial.

The Observatory urges the military junta of Myanmar to immediately and unconditionally release the five lawyers and all other human rights defenders who have been arbitrarily detained. The Observatory also urge the military junta to immediately halt the ongoing repression of civil society.

Action requested:

Please write to the members of the military junta asking them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu;

ii. Immediately and unconditionally release Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu, as their detention is arbitrary and only aims at punishing them for their legitimate human rights activities;

The Observatory has received information about a wave of arbitrary arrests targeting lawyers in Myanmar. According to the information received, between May 24 and June 10, 2021, the military junta’s security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained five lawyers who provided legal defense to protesters and other individuals arrested following the February 1 coup d’état. Four of the five lawyers have been charged with “incitement”, under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code [1].

On June 2, 2021, Thet Htun Oo, a pro-bono lawyer and Central Executive Committee member of the Independent Lawyers’ Association of Myanmar, was arrested while in court inside Myitkyina Prison, Kachin State, where he was assisting individuals who had been detained under Article 505(a). The charges against him are not known at the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal.

The Observatory condemns the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of lawyers, which is inconsistent with international human rights standards, including the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, [2] which guarantee the protection of lawyers in the course of their work and prohibit their prosecution in relation to cases they defend. The Observatory expresses grave concern over the high risk of torture, enforced disappearance, and summary execution the five lawyers are facing while in custody. The Observatory remains concerned by the ongoing actions by the military junta to curtail fundamental rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, and to a fair trial.

The Observatory urges the military junta of Myanmar to immediately and unconditionally release the five lawyers and all other human rights defenders who have been arbitrarily detained. The Observatory also urge the military junta to immediately halt the ongoing repression of civil society.

Action requested:

Please write to the members of the military junta asking them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu;

ii. Immediately and unconditionally release Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu, as their detention is arbitrary and only aims at punishing them for their legitimate human rights activities;

The Observatory has received information about a wave of arbitrary arrests targeting lawyers in Myanmar. According to the information received, between May 24 and June 10, 2021, the military junta’s security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained five lawyers who provided legal defense to protesters and other individuals arrested following the February 1 coup d’état. Four of the five lawyers have been charged with “incitement”, under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code [1].

On June 10, 2021, Nilar and Hpone Myat Thu, were arrested in the border town of Myawaddy, Kayin [Karen] State, while they were attempting to cross into Thailand. They appeared in court a day after their arrest and, at the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal, were being held at Myawaddy’s central police station. The next hearing in their case is scheduled for June 25, 2021. The “incitement” charges against the two stem from their defense of political prisoners, including Kayin State’s ousted Chief Minister Nan Khin Htwe Myint and Hpa-An Technical High School Principal Cho Yu Mon, who were arrested after the February 1 coup for taking part in peaceful anti-junta protests.

The Observatory condemns the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of lawyers, which is inconsistent with international human rights standards, including the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, [2] which guarantee the protection of lawyers in the course of their work and prohibit their prosecution in relation to cases they defend. The Observatory expresses grave concern over the high risk of torture, enforced disappearance, and summary execution the five lawyers are facing while in custody. The Observatory remains concerned by the ongoing actions by the military junta to curtail fundamental rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, and to a fair trial.

The Observatory urges the military junta of Myanmar to immediately and unconditionally release the five lawyers and all other human rights defenders who have been arbitrarily detained. The Observatory also urge the military junta to immediately halt the ongoing repression of civil society.

Action requested:

Please write to the members of the military junta asking them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu;

ii. Immediately and unconditionally release Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu, as their detention is arbitrary and only aims at punishing them for their legitimate human rights activities;

It has been nearly one month since Dr Htet Lwin Win, the Kachin State project officer for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), was arrested and charged with sedition and incitement.

He was arrested on May 12, and is believed to be detained in Myitkyina Prison.

The 34-year-old has been working with the IOM, a related organisation of the UN, since late 2018. He has been charged with violating Section 124a and Section 505a of the Penal Code. The regime authorities accused him of putting a picture of coup leader Min Aung Hlaing in a demeaning position on his doorstep and compiling a list of health workers who were not involved in the anti-coup Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) on his mobile phone.

Section 124a—for sedition—carries either a 7- or 20-year prison sentence and/or a fine.

Section 505a for incitement was amended by the junta soon after the February 1 military coup, and carries a maximum prison sentence of three years.

“In close cooperation with the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, IOM has been trying its best to have access to Dr. Htet Lwin Win and to secure his release. IOM has requested the military to respect the privileges and immunities of the UN staff,” a spokesperson for the IOM’s regional office for Asia and the Pacific told Myanmar Now by email on Friday.

A family member Htet Lwin Win said his third hearing was held on June 9, and that the prosecution had filed a request to suspend the charge under Section 124a. At the time of reporting, it was not known if the charge would be dropped.

The family member also told Myanmar Now that the case against Htet Lwin Win is based on Facebook photos unintentionally kept on his phone. It was alleged that the photos were being collected to carry out public shaming, or what is known as “social punishment,” against health workers not involved in the CDM.

Htet Lwin Win’s lawyer was also arrested for allegedly violating Section 505a, but the reason for his arrest was not known at the time of reporting.

In the four months since the coup, the military junta has killed 858 people and arrested nearly 6,000, according to figures compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners as of June 9.

The military junta has repeatedly said the death toll is around 300.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated to include comments from the IOM’s regional spokesperson.

A woman from Yangon Region’s Hmawbi Township who was beaten by soldiers after they found protest photos on her phone has had a miscarriage, according to local residents.

The woman, who was two months pregnant, was one of more than 40 people arrested in connection with a fire that broke out at a primary school in the village of Sein Shwe Kone on June 14.

She was arrested and beaten later the same day when a photo of her at a protest was discovered on her mobile phone.

“They found that picture and took her away. They used a device to check her phone, so that even deleted pictures were recovered,” a resident of the village said.

“She took photos during protest rallies. The authorities asked for the home addresses of those in the pictures. They used the phone to hunt the protesters,” the villager added.

The woman was released on June 16 and is currently receiving medical treatment, residents said. Myanmar Now was unable to contact her directly at the time of reporting.

A female resident said that the soldiers arrived a few hours after the fire broke out and demanded to know who in the village had ties to the National League for Democracy (NLD).

“The soldiers came and rounded everyone up. They asked a few people about the arson attack. When the villagers said they didn’t know anything about it, the soldiers wanted to know who in the village was associated with the NLD and who participated in protests. The soldiers beat the villagers until they got the answer,” the woman said.

Residents said that 10 people were arrested on the day of the fire and more than 30 others were taken into custody two days later. Anyone who was found to have liked posts about the NLD on Facebook was arrested, according to residents.

Many others in the village of roughly 1,000 people were also subjected to questioning.

“They said they would interrogate everyone until they found out who the arsonist was,” said one young resident who was among those who were temporarily detained.

“They said that if we tried to evade arrest, they would give our parents trouble. At night, I just had to sit at home and wait for my turn,” she said.

Another resident said that soldiers also examined the list of households in the village to see which ones had children who were not enrolled in school.

“Whenever they found a child who was not enrolled in the school, they beat the child’s parents,” said the villager.

Most of those who were detained were also subjected to beatings, residents said.

“First they hit them five times with a bamboo stick and asked them who the arsonist was. If they said they didn’t know, they were beaten 10 times with the stick. Then 15 and 20 times if they still said they didn’t know,” said one villager.

An activist in Hmawbi said that he could not confirm how many people had been released because some were reluctant to share information out of fear of re-arrest.

A state-run newspaper reported on June 18 that 56 textbooks, three dozen notebooks, and several pieces of furniture were destroyed in the fire.

Junta-controlled media has accused alleged terrorists with links to the NLD of bombing schools and carrying out attacks against teachers and students.

Local People’s Defence Forces loyal to the ousted NLD government have denied targeting civilians in their campaign to pressure the regime to give up power.

Soldiers shot a local protest leader and environmental rights defender in the leg as he rode on the back of a motorcycle in Sagaing Region on Tuesday morning before arresting him and taking him to an interrogation center, a source close to the activist said.

Man Zar Myay Mon was trying to escape from the village of Shanhtu–where he had been hiding–after regime troops arrived and carried out a raid at around 6am.

“The village school was set on fire at night, and the next morning the military showed up,” said a local source who is close to the activist and requested anonymity.

“He was leaving the village to go into hiding again but met with the military’s troops. They shot him in the thigh and he fell off the bike,” the source added.

The driver of the bike managed to escape, as did two others who were riding another motorcycle along with them.

Man Zar Myay Mon received treatment for his wound but was sent to the Monywa interrogation center in legcuffs, the source said.

“It seems he was targeted because of his reputation and leadership in the local civil disobedience movement and protests against the military,” a source close to the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA)—of which Man Zar Myay Mon is a member—told Myanmar Now.

The 28-year-old has been wanted by the regime since April, when he was charged with incitement under section 505a of the Penal Code after becoming a prominent leader of anti-coup protests in Chaung-U Township.

His family learned of his arrest at 7am on Tuesday and they have been unable to talk to or meet with him since. He is the son of the writer Myay Mon and has previously worked as a freelance journalist. In his work as an environmental and land rights defender, Man Zar Myay Mon carried out extensive research on the country’s notorious mining sector. He was also active in the protests against the Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing.

In addition to being a member of MATA, a leading civil society network focused on the extractive sector, Man Zar Myay Mon also belongs to the Sagaing Region coordination unit of the Myanmar Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

Two reporters working for independent media outlets in Myanmar were jailed for two years on Wednesday for reporting on the demonstrations against the February takeover by the military junta, a family member of one of them and other sources said.

Aung Kyaw, a 32-year-old Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reporter, was charged by the military regime with violating Section 505(a) of the Penal Code and sentenced by a court in Myeik Prison in the southern Tanintharyi region, his wife Nay Chi Moe told RFA.

The section pertains to the circulation of statements, rumors, or reports with the intent to cause military officers to disregard or fail in their duties, and carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

“I don’t know why he was sentenced to two years in prison under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code,” Nay Chi Moe said. “Our family was not allowed to hear the case held at the prison court.”

Junta forces arrested Aung Kyaw when they stormed his home on March 1. He streamed his arrest live on Facebook, and the arrest video has been watched millions of times since then, according to a statement issued Wednesday by DVB.

The day before his arrest, the journalist broadcast live news that soldiers raided and destroyed some houses in Myeik township.

Because Aung Kyaw’s attorney was under threat by the junta, he decided not to hire another lawyer and instead defended himself in court during his last two hearings, DVB’s statement said.

Aung Kyaw argued that non-criminal charges should have been brought against him under Myanmar’s Media Law, rather than the Penal Code, and that he subsequently would have been found not guilty because he was doing his work as a journalist. The judge refused to accept the argument, however.

“I have no confidence in the judiciary under the military council, so I will not appeal,” Aung Kyaw said after the verdict, according to his wife.

Nay Chi Moe said she would not submit an appeal.

“The 505(a) charge should not have been used against a journalist,” she said. “He did not want to file an appeal because he does not believe in the law. He said his case was meant to create a news blackout. It is totally unfair that he was given a two-year sentence under 505(a).”

Aye Chan Naing, DVB's executive director and chief editor, called the sentence “total injustice.”

“There is no reason our reporter Aung Kyaw should be jailed,” he said. “The legal system is so flawed, and it was an unlawful arrest.”

Situation is ‘deteriorating’

Aung Kyaw’s jailing followed that of Min Nyo, a DVB reporter based in Pyay, Bago region, who was sentenced to three years in prison on May 12.

“The military junta is illegally detaining Aung Kyaw and Min Nyo, and there is not a single reason to keep them in prison,” DVB said in its statement. “The junta has currently 57 journalists detained for doing their work. This is a clear violation of both national and international laws by the Burmese junta.”

In another sentencing Wednesday in Myeik, Zaw Zaw, a freelance journalist who works for the outlet Mizzima, was sentenced to two years in prison for violating Section 505(a) of the Criminal Code. RFA could not reach his lawyer or family for comment.

Myint Kyaw, a former Myanmar Press Council member, says the current situation of the press in Myanmar is at its worst under the military regime.

“The situation of the press is deteriorating,” he said. “It is likely to become even worse. No one can say for sure whether it will lead to a censorship regime as existed under the previous junta, but we can say it’s heading in that direction.”

“There had been no such situation like this for a decade with putting more than 50 journalists in jail in Myanmar,” he said. “Press freedom is in a free fall at the worst rate.”

More than 80 journalists have been arrested since the Feb. 1 coup, and over 50 of them face criminal charges wile detained in prisons across the country.

“Myanmar’s junta started with zero respect for independent journalism and has gone downhill from there as the military tries to stop any reporting on the atrocities it's committing every day against the people,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

“The military’s move to go after journalists from respected Burmese media outlets like DVB and Mizzima is all about strangling any independent narratives about what’s happening in Myanmar, and trying to drag the people of the country back to the dictatorially imposed isolation that characterized the rule of previous military regimes in the country,” he said in a statement from Bangkok.

Correspondents say many journalists now are fleeing the country because of the junta’s crackdown on the media, with some going abroad to continue their reporting and others out of jobs and struggling to make ends meet.

Following the coup, the junta banned 11 independent news outlets, including DVB and Mizzima, from operating.

The pro-democracy activist brother of a high-ranking official in Myanmar’s military junta died under suspicious circumstances while in custody of the junta’s security forces this week, their family told RFA.

Soe Moe Hlaing, 55, also known by his alias Mae Gyi, was the younger brother of Lt. Gen Than Hlaing, who was appointed the country’s chief of police and deputy home affairs minister on Feb. 2, one day after the military ousted the country’s democratically elected government and seized control.

Authorities arrested Soe Moe Hlaing and eight others on May 22 in the central city of Bago for running a charity school. Two days later, his family received a notice to retrieve his body.

His wife, Myat Muyar Win, told RFA’s Myanmar Service Tuesday that the military planned to cremate his remains at Mingaladon War Cemetery that day.

“We didn’t have to see or do much. It was as if we were attending a funeral they were holding. We wanted to take his body back to Yangon but they refused. We asked them to postpone the funeral for a day, but they refused that, too. We are on our way to Mingaladon right now,” she said.

Local outlet Myanmar Now quoted Myat Muyar Win as saying a regime official told her that he died of “some disease,” but she asserted that her husband was healthy. She also said that she heard reports that the 901st Artillery Operations Command beat Soe Moe Hlaing with the butt of a gun during his arrest. Than Hlaing reportedly went to see the body at the cemetery prior to the cremation.

In the report, Myat Muyar Win said the brothers had not seen each other in many years and they never contacted each other.

RFA attempted to contact the junta’s spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun but he was not available for comment.

Soe Moe Hlaing, an honors chemistry student at Yangon University, was active in the 1988 pro-democracy uprising. After the 1988 coup he joined and served as a battalion commander in the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), a pro-democracy armed group.

After returning home in 1991, the previous junta arrested him and sentenced him to 15 years in prison for his involvement in the ABSDF. He spent 10 years in Insein and Thayarwaddy prisons. Since his release, he had dedicated his life to charity work.

After Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) came to power in the 2015 elections, Soe Moe Hlaing founded a community-based tourism network for local development, leading the development of the Zalon Taung Pagoda, a religious facility on a scenic mountaintop in the northwestern Sagaing region.

Over the past few years, he established and taught at the Winkabaw Ex-Political Prisoner Education Network, which has a mission to educate family members of political prisoners.

“Even though his brother had a high position in the military, he never took advantage of that,” a friend of Soe Moe Hlaing told RFA on condition of anonymity.

“The local military authorities in Bago did not know he was related to the sitting deputy home affairs minister during his arrest or detention,” Soe Moe Hlaing’s friend said.

According to Myanmar Now, the two brothers have nine other siblings. The invitation for Soe Moe Hlaing’s memorial service mentioned his ties to Deputy Minister Than Hlaing, and said he was survived by his wife, three daughters and two sons.

According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 21 people, including two women, have died since the coup after being arrested and tortured at interrogation camps.

A pro-democracy activist in the Sagaing Region town of Monywa was murdered on Friday after being set on fire in an unprovoked attack, according to a witness to the incident.

Factory manager Taing Aung said that he was talking to the victim, 60-year-old Sein Win, on Friday morning when a factory worker poured gasoline over his head and set him alight.

“I saw him pour the gasoline and then immediately set him on fire. I shouted and tried to put out the fire on Ko Sein Win,” said Taing Aung, who was a friend of the victim.

“He poured the gasoline on him just like we do with water during the Thingyan water festival,” he told Myanmar Now.

Sein Win was immediately admitted to the Monywa General Hospital, but died at around 11pm on Friday, he added.

“He had severe burns on his legs, hands, and head—almost his entire body. His face was burned black. The skin on his legs and hands peeled off,” said Taing Aung.

The assailant was identified as Aung Ko, a resident of Monywa’s Myawaddy ward. At the time of reporting, he was still at large.

Officials at the Monywa police station could not be reached for comment when contacted by Myanmar Now on Saturday.

Sein Win’s family will hold a funeral for him on Sunday afternoon.

A longtime supporter of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Sein Win had been active in politics since the 1988 pro-democracy uprising and campaigned for the party in the 1990 election.

According to his daughter Thin Thin Nwe, his political activism often made life difficult for him and his family, including his three adult children.

“None of us ever applied for jobs that required documents or references from ward administrators or the police,” she said, explaining that the regime actively discriminated against those known to oppose its rule.

She added, however, that she understood her father’s position because he shared his political beliefs with his children and educated them about the nature of the dictatorship.

As a veteran pro-democracy activist, Sein Win joined anti-regime protests in Monywa soon after the military seized power on February 1. He was also close to youth activists and supported the anti-coup activities of Generation Z protesters in the town.

“He believed this revolution would win. He saw rays of hope, and so do we. I am very sad that my father will no longer be able to see our victory,” Thin Thin Nwe said.

Sein Win was also a charity worker and a lover of poetry whose poems have been published in a number of magazines.

A fellow poet in Monywa who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity said that it was unlikely that the motive for the attack was personal.

“He was an honest and active charity worker and political activist,” he said.

At least nine civilians, including poet Kay Za Win and writer Kyi Lin Aye, have been murdered in brutal crackdowns on anti-coup protesters in Monywa.

Monywa-based poet Khet Thi died last week in the regime's custody a day after he was arrested in Shwebo, another town in Sagaing about 100km from Monywa.

Nearly 50 people in Ayeyarwady Region initially charged with violating Section 505a of the Penal Code for incitement were hit with additional charges on Wednesday for treason.

The new charges—violating Sections 122 and 124a of the Penal Code—carry the death penalty or a lifetime prison sentence.

The plaintiff in the case is the chief of the Pathein District police station. He has directed the charges against 31 activists and 17 current and formerly elected National League for Democracy (NLD) parliamentarians, one of the affected MPs said.

“They’ve already opened cases against us under 505a. I heard they’re adding more charges to those who are part of CRPH [Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw] or close to them. I also heard we are facing more charges in our township as well,” Ni Ni Moe, a former NLD regional parliamentary representative for Nyaungdon Township’s Constituency 1, said.

Ni Ni Moe went into hiding after being charged with Section 505a for incitement, and is now facing the two additional charges in Pathein.

Since the February 1 military coup, 12 people including four NLD lawmakers have been detained in Ayeyarwady.

Thein Tun, a Lower House representative for Tharpaung Township; Aung Aung Oo, a regional parliamentarian for Tharpaung’s Constituency 1; and Than Htut, a regional representative for Pathein District’s Constituency 1, were arrested on March 31 and charged with incitement.

Dr. Tin Min Htut, a lawmaker from Pantanaw Township and secretary of Ayeyarwady Region’s NLD office, was arrested on the night of May 15. He is among those facing additional charges for treason.

Ni Ni Moe told Myanmar Now that while many NLD MPs are facing persecution by the junta, some have opted to side with the coup regime and have given up their elected posts.

“Before, they filed charges against almost all of the representatives under 505a and now there are additional charges. However, some representatives are casually relaxing at home. I heard some of them have already resigned [from the legislature],” Ni Ni Moe said.

After seizing power, the military amended Section 505a of the Penal Code, increasing the prison sentence for those convicted from two to three years.

Like Section 505a, Section 124a was also amended by the coup regime. It carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years for inciting “disaffection towards the Government [...] or the Defence Services.”

Conviction of high treason under Section 122 is accompanied by the death penalty or 20 years’ imprisonment.

Myanmar poet Khet Thi, whose works declare resistance to the ruling junta, died in detention overnight and his body was returned with the organs removed, his family said on Sunday.

A spokesman for the junta did not answer calls to request comment on the death of Khet Thi, who had penned the line "They shoot in the head, but they don't know the revolution is in the heart." His Facebook page said he was 45.

Khet Thi's wife said both of them were taken for interrogation on Saturday by armed soldiers and police in the central town of Shwebo, in the Sagaing region, a centre of resistance to the coup in which elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was ousted. "I was interrogated. So was he. They said he was at the interrogation centre. But he didn't come back, only his body," his wife Chaw Su told BBC Burmese language news in tears from Monywa, around 100 km away by road.

"They called me in the morning and told me to meet him at the hospital in Monywa. I thought it was just for a broken arm or something ... But when I arrived here, he was at the morgue and his internal organs were taken out," she said.

She had been told at the hospital he had a heart problem, but had not bothered to read the death certificate because she was sure it would not be true, Chaw Su said. Reuters was unable to reach the hospital for comment. Chaw Su said the army had planned to bury him but that she pleaded with them for the body. She did not say how she knew her husband's organs had been removed.

"He died at the hospital after being tortured in the interrogation centre," the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group said in a bulletin that put the toll of civilians killed since the coup at 780.

The group, which monitors details of killings, did not identify the source of its information.

Myanmar’s military junta should immediately stop threatening the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a leading human rights monitoring group, Human Rights Watch said today. The group has documented security force abuses since the February 1, 2021 coup, including killings of protesters, arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances, and unjust court convictions.

On April 26, the Home Affairs Ministry of the ruling State Administration Council (SAC) accused the AAPP of operating illegally because it was not registered as an organization. The junta’s announcement threatened “severe action” against the group for causing “State service personnel and public panic” that will “incite the occurrence of more riots” and “harm State stability, rule of law and restoration of law and order.” “While the world’s media and diplomats regularly cite the AAPP’s daily updates on the military crackdown, Myanmar’s generals are desperately trying to silence the group to keep the truth from getting out,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The threats are part of the junta’s shroud of silence and censorship, targeting frontline groups like AAPP, arresting journalists, and shutting down the internet.”

The junta’s efforts to target the AAPP are illustrated in the 115-page briefing paper, obtained by Human Rights Watch, that the junta leader, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, presented to leaders at the ASEAN summit in Jakarta on April 24. Min Aung Hlaing claimed, without providing evidence, that the AAPP uses “data” that “appeared in fake and hoax news.” He added that the junta was “very upset” that “world media and international organizations restated” that information.

Responding to the allegations, AAPP Secretary-General Bo Kyi, a recipient of the Human Rights Watch Alison des Forges Defender Award in 2009, told The Irrawaddy magazine that: “I think it is just a political move as international governments, media and UN are referencing our data … The key issue is the violence they have committed, their killing and arrests. Instead of solving those problems, they are targeting a group like ours which is revealing the true events.” The AAPP told Human Rights Watch that the military’s threats have forced them to close their office in Yangon and compelled their staff to go into hiding and work from undisclosed locations. The junta has also arbitrarily arrested journalists to prevent reporting on the opposition Civil Disobedience Movement’s broad-based resistance to the coup and the security force abuses. UNESCO reported that the junta has arrested at least 71 journalists since the coup. The AAPP says that 48 journalists are currently known to be in detention, most in undisclosed locations without access to their families or legal counsel. Many other journalists have fled to border regions controlled by ethnic groups, or to neighboring countries.

The junta has brought charges against numerous journalists and activists under revised penal code provisions adopted on February 14. The State Administration Council inserted a new provision, section 505A, that could be used to punish comments regarding the illegitimacy of the coup or the military government, among others. The new section would criminalize comments that “cause fear,” spread “false news, [or] agitates directly or indirectly a criminal offense against a Government employee.” Violation of the section is punishable with up to three years in prison. The law arbitrarily interferes with the exercise of rights protected under international law, including freedom of expression.

The junta has also increased pressure on independent media outlets by revoking their operating licenses. On March 8, the State Administration Council announced that it had cancelled the licenses of Mizzima, Myanmar Now, 7Day News, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), and Khit Thit Media. While these media groups have continued to report on events, they do so at great risk since journalists working for these outlets face immediate arrest if they are discovered doing their jobs as reporters.

“Groups like the AAPP and the independent media are playing a critical role holding Myanmar’s junta accountable, and they need to be able to continue their work,” Robertson said. “Governments concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in Myanmar should be offering public support for these organizations and their brave staff members.”

The junta’s forces raided a monastery in Sagain Region’s Yinmabin township on Saturday afternoon in search of a monk who has led anti-coup protests in the area.

Soldiers destroyed a bamboo building in the compound and confiscated 20 computers that were being used to teach students IT skills during the raid at Thabyay Aye village.

The monk they were searching for, Thaw Pa Ka, was not at the monastery at the time.

“The compound is covered with military boot prints,” Thaw Pa Ka told Myanmar Now. “A load of them showed up and started searching the place, even in the toilets.”

They also searched through boxes where novice monks kept their belongings, he added.

Thaw Pa Ka took part in the Saffron Revolution in 2007. He has lived in Thabyay Aye for about 10 years.

Saturday’s raid was the second time this month that the regime’s forces have tried to capture the monk.

Saw Lin Htet, an ethnic Karen student from Myanmar currently studying at Mahidol University, has been arrested in Myanmar after joining an anti-coup protest while conducting research, and has not been heard from since.

Saw Lin Htet is a student in the Human Rights and Democratisation master’s degree programme at the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies (IHRP), Mahidol University. IHRP lecturer Bencharat Sae Chua said that he returned to his home country to conduct research for his thesis. While in Myanmar, he also joined anti-coup protests after the Myanmar military took power on 1 February 2021.

Bencharat said she was informed that Saw Lin Htet was arrested on 23 March 2021, while driving home in Hpa-An, the capital city of Karen State, with his 4-year-old daughter. He was stopped by military officers, who searched his car without presenting a warrant and arrested him after they found anti-government material.

He was accused of inciting violence against the state under Section 505 of Myanmar’s Criminal Code, which carries a prison sentence of up to 3 years.

He was taken to court on 6 April 2021, but his trial was not heard as there were too many cases. However, that evening, his wife noticed that he was not in the prisoner bus returning to prison, so she went to search for him both at the prison and at the police station, but no officer was able to tell her where he is. He has not been heard from since.

Saw Lin Htet’s family and friends are now concerned for his wellbeing. Bencharat said a petition has been filed with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, and that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights received the petition on 9 April. Meanwhile, his wife and daughter are in hiding out of fear that they are in danger from state officials.

His classmates at Mahidol University have also set up the Facebook page “Free Saw Lin” to call attention to his arrest and disappearance. On 9 April, they also issued a statement raising concerns about Saw Lin Htet’s wellbeing and calling on the Myanmar government to guarantee the rights Saw Lin Htet and other political detainees, as well as to allow them the right to be represented by a lawyer and to have a fair trial.

“We gravely fear for the condition of Saw Lin, who as of this moment remains under incommunicado detention,” says the statement. “Saw Lin’s current physical health is fragile since he is a survivor of childhood tuberculosis. His lack of consistent access to lawyers and his family clear violates his rights as an accused and person deprived of liberty.

“We appeal to the Government of the Union of Myanmar to allow Saw Lin, along with other political detainees, to have their rights guaranteed under the law. We request that they are granted access to justice, be represented by their counsels, and have a fair trial.”

The Myanmar military detained Japanese freelance journalist, Yuki Kitazumi in Yangon on April 18 for allegedly disseminating ‘fake news’. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemn the continued threat to journalists across Myanmar and calls for the immediate release of all detained journalists.

Yuki Kitazumi, a freelance journalist and owner of Yangon Media Professionals, a media production company, was arrested at his home in Yangon and transferred to Insein prison overnight.Myanmar state television stations reported, Kitazumi was charged with spreading ‘fake news’ under article 505(A) of the Penal Code.

While not providing a name, the Japanese government confirmed a journalist in his forties was detained on April 18. Japanese Embassy officials said they are unable to visit him in detention, and chief cabinet secretary, Katsunobu Kato asked ‘Myanmar authorities to explain the arrest and release him as soon as possible.’

Article 505(A) of Myanmar’s penal code is a new amendment made by Myanmar’s State Administrative Council, a body set up by the military after the coup on February 1. The amendment was announced on February 14 and criminalises comments which “cause fear”, spread “false news, (or) agitates directly or indirectly a criminal offense against a government employee.”

Kitazumi was previously detained and released the same day on February 26 while covering protests. According to Reuters, Kitazumi was the first foreign reporter to be detained since the military-coup on February 1.

Two anti-coup protesters were killed in northern Myanmar over the weekend as the military continued its push to crush resistance to its rule. One person was reported dead in the northern Shan State town of Kyaukme on Saturday, Aung Ko Ko Phyo, a 25-year-old government employee who had joined the Civil Disobedience Movement, was shot in the head as he was leaving the monastery where he had temporarily ordained as a monk during the Thingyan holidays.

According to local sources, Aung Ko Ko Phyo, who worked for the Department of Electrical Power, was shot near Kyaukme’s Wailuwun monastery at around 9pm on Saturday.

“He was on his way to his teacher’s home. He had just left the monkhood because it was the end of Thingyan,” a Kyaukme resident told Myanmar Now.

There were numerous witnesses to the incident, the source added, noting that it occurred in the centre of town.

A doctor who treated him said he died from a bullet wound and would be cremated on Monday.

The troops who killed him removed his body from the scene soon after the shooting. Family members were told they could collect it on Sunday. However, according to a local news agency, his mother was forced to sign a release before she was allowed to claim his body stating that her son had been stabbed to death and that the military was not involved in his killing.

Plainclothes regime officials detained one of the country’s most prominent anti-coup protest leaders on Thursday after ramming him with a car while he rode a motorbike during a rally in Monywa, Sagaing Region.

A group of armed men emerged from the vehicle after hitting Wai Moe Naing and beat the 26-year-old Muslim man before taking him and another protester away, a local relief worker told Myanmar Now.

“There were about five motorbikes riding in front of his to protect him,” he said. “The vehicle crossed over those bikes and smashed into Wai Moe Naing’s motorcycle from the opposite direction,” he said.

“Wai Moe Naing tried to run as he stood up after his motorbike fell,” he added. “Some armed plainclothes individuals came out of the vehicle and arrested him at gunpoint.”

Video footage that circulated on social media appeared to show the moment his motorbike was hit.

A female protester was arrested with him and both were reportedly taken to the city hall and then the northwestern regional military command base, the relief worker said.

Other protesters who participated in the rally have gone into hiding, he added.

The Swedish embassy in Yangon issued a statement saying that it is following Wai Moe Naing’s case closely.

Wai Moe Naing rose to prominence for his role organising daily anti-coup protests in Monywa, which sits on the eastern bank of the Chindwin River, since February 6.

He is also a member of Monywa’s General Strike Committee and the Sagaing Regional Youth Committee.

He was among those who first suggested the idea of banging pots and pans as a symbol of opposition to the coup regime, The Irrawaddy reported. The noise protest is derived from a traditional ritual to drive out evil from one’s home.

About 11:30 a.m., workers’ rights activist Daw Myo Aye, director of Solidarity Trade Union of Myanmar (STUM), was abducted from her office in Shwepyithar Township. Four military vehicles with around 40 soldiers surrounded the office during the arrest. Her daughter wrote on her Facebook page that the troops also confiscated the phones of the staff in the office.

Regime forces killed at least 20 people in Sagaing and Bago regions on Wednesday, pushing the death toll from two months of crackdowns on anti-coup protests past a new threshold.

Added to figures compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the latest deaths confirmed by Myanmar Now late Wednesday night bring the total number of civilians killed by the regime since it seized power on February 1 to 606.

Most of the fatalities reported on Wednesday were in the Sagaing region town of Kalay, where local medical teams confirmed that a day-long crackdown on the town’s Tarhan protest camp had left at least 11 people dead.

This figure is up from eight reported dead earlier in the day and is expected to continue to rise.

“They were shooting at every shadow, positioning themselves on every corner and every street that led to the protest camp,” a Kalay resident said of the junta’s armed forces.

“They were hiding in ditches and lying in ambush,” he added, noting that non-protesters were likely among those killed.

Local media reported that three of the 11 people killed were not involved in protest activities.

An unknown number of arrests were also made. Photos circulating on social media show several people with their eyes blindfolded and their hands tied behind their backs in the custody of soldiers.

Meanwhile, in another part of Sagaing, seven men were shot dead by regime forces in the town of Taze on Wednesday afternoon, according to a member of a local relief group who spoke to Myanmar Now.

The relief worker said he was unable to provide further details about the situation in the town because his team was still trying to rescue wounded people from the protest site at the time of reporting.

A Taze local said that three of those killed were in their 30s.

According to local sources, it was the first time that the town’s anti-coup rallies, which routinely attracted tens of thousands of protesters, had come under attack by junta forces.

The sources said that around 100 troops arrived in the town in six military vehicles earlier in the day to carry out the crackdown.

“At the entrance to Taze, people used sandbags to block three military trucks coming from Ye-U township. Then the fighting broke out,” a resident of the town told Myanmar Now.

Another local said the junta’s armed forces had a variety of weapons at their disposal, including sniper rifles, while the town’s residents were armed only with homemade guns.

At least 20 people, including a monk, were injured in the clash, he said.

There were also two reported deaths in Bago, where armed troops entered the city’s Kyauk Gyi Su ward and opened fire in a residential neighbourhood, according to local sources.

The two victims were identified as 20-year-old Chan Myae and 48-year-old A Nge Lay, both of whom were shot in the head. The latter individual’s body has not been retrieved.

Meanwhile, a series of small blasts was reported in Yangon on Wednesday, while a Chinese-owned factory was set on fire in the city’s western industrial outskirts.

The blasts occurred at seven locations around the city, including near government offices and a military compound, and caused only minor damage. No injuries were reported.

The fire at the JOC Galaxy (Myanmar) Apparel factory in Hlaing Tharyar township started at around 5:35am and was put out by 6:55am, the township’s fire department reported. No details about the extent of the damage from the blaze were released.

The fire and the blasts came as the regime claimed on state TV on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with an incident that took place outside the US embassy’s American Centre on March 27.

The regime alleged that Aye Thaw Kaung, a member of the family that owns the famous Shwe Puzun bakery in Yangon, had purchased a high-pressure air gun online for 190,000 kyat and used it to fire lead balls at the centre in order to “create political complications” in relations between the United States and Myanmar.

Aye Thaw Kaung was also identified as a supporter of the National League for Democracy, the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the military seized power.

Pro-democracy demonstrations have taken place around the country almost continuously since the coup, resulting in a steady escalation of violence by the regime in an effort to crush popular resistance to its rule.

On Tuesday, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body consisting of lawmakers from the ousted civilian government, released a statement claiming that it had collected 180,000 pieces of evidence that show “wide-scale abuses of human rights” by the military.

The CRPH said it has directed its international legal counsel at the Volterra Fietta law firm to communicate with different international human rights bodies of the United Nations to share evidence of the Myanmar regime’s crimes. The fire at the JOC Galaxy (Myanmar) Apparel factory in Hlaing Tharyar township started at around 5:35am and was put out by 6:55am, the township’s fire department reported. No details about the extent of the damage from the blaze were released.

The fire and the blasts came as the regime claimed on state TV on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with an incident that took place outside the US embassy’s American Centre on March 27.

The regime alleged that Aye Thaw Kaung, a member of the family that owns the famous Shwe Puzun bakery in Yangon, had purchased a high-pressure air gun online for 190,000 kyat and used it to fire lead balls at the centre in order to “create political complications” in relations between the United States and Myanmar.

Aye Thaw Kaung was also identified as a supporter of the National League for Democracy, the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the military seized power.

Pro-democracy demonstrations have taken place around the country almost continuously since the coup, resulting in a steady escalation of violence by the regime in an effort to crush popular resistance to its rule.

On Tuesday, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body consisting of lawmakers from the ousted civilian government, released a statement claiming that it had collected 180,000 pieces of evidence that show “wide-scale abuses of human rights” by the military.

The CRPH said it has directed its international legal counsel at the Volterra Fietta law firm to communicate with different international human rights bodies of the United Nations to share evidence of the Myanmar regime’s crimes.

The fire at the JOC Galaxy (Myanmar) Apparel factory in Hlaing Tharyar township started at around 5:35am and was put out by 6:55am, the township’s fire department reported. No details about the extent of the damage from the blaze were released.

The fire and the blasts came as the regime claimed on state TV on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with an incident that took place outside the US embassy’s American Centre on March 27.

The regime alleged that Aye Thaw Kaung, a member of the family that owns the famous Shwe Puzun bakery in Yangon, had purchased a high-pressure air gun online for 190,000 kyat and used it to fire lead balls at the centre in order to “create political complications” in relations between the United States and Myanmar.

Aye Thaw Kaung was also identified as a supporter of the National League for Democracy, the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the military seized power.

Pro-democracy demonstrations have taken place around the country almost continuously since the coup, resulting in a steady escalation of violence by the regime in an effort to crush popular resistance to its rule.

On Tuesday, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body consisting of lawmakers from the ousted civilian government, released a statement claiming that it had collected 180,000 pieces of evidence that show “wide-scale abuses of human rights” by the military.

The CRPH said it has directed its international legal counsel at the Volterra Fietta law firm to communicate with different international human rights bodies of the United Nations to share evidence of the Myanmar regime’s crimes. The fire at the JOC Galaxy (Myanmar) Apparel factory in Hlaing Tharyar township started at around 5:35am and was put out by 6:55am, the township’s fire department reported. No details about the extent of the damage from the blaze were released.

The fire and the blasts came as the regime claimed on state TV on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with an incident that took place outside the US embassy’s American Centre on March 27.

The regime alleged that Aye Thaw Kaung, a member of the family that owns the famous Shwe Puzun bakery in Yangon, had purchased a high-pressure air gun online for 190,000 kyat and used it to fire lead balls at the centre in order to “create political complications” in relations between the United States and Myanmar.

Aye Thaw Kaung was also identified as a supporter of the National League for Democracy, the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the military seized power.

Pro-democracy demonstrations have taken place around the country almost continuously since the coup, resulting in a steady escalation of violence by the regime in an effort to crush popular resistance to its rule.

On Tuesday, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body consisting of lawmakers from the ousted civilian government, released a statement claiming that it had collected 180,000 pieces of evidence that show “wide-scale abuses of human rights” by the military.

The CRPH said it has directed its international legal counsel at the Volterra Fietta law firm to communicate with different international human rights bodies of the United Nations to share evidence of the Myanmar regime’s crimes.

The fire at the JOC Galaxy (Myanmar) Apparel factory in Hlaing Tharyar township started at around 5:35am and was put out by 6:55am, the township’s fire department reported. No details about the extent of the damage from the blaze were released.

The fire and the blasts came as the regime claimed on state TV on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with an incident that took place outside the US embassy’s American Centre on March 27.

The regime alleged that Aye Thaw Kaung, a member of the family that owns the famous Shwe Puzun bakery in Yangon, had purchased a high-pressure air gun online for 190,000 kyat and used it to fire lead balls at the centre in order to “create political complications” in relations between the United States and Myanmar.

Aye Thaw Kaung was also identified as a supporter of the National League for Democracy, the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the military seized power.

Pro-democracy demonstrations have taken place around the country almost continuously since the coup, resulting in a steady escalation of violence by the regime in an effort to crush popular resistance to its rule.

On Tuesday, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body consisting of lawmakers from the ousted civilian government, released a statement claiming that it had collected 180,000 pieces of evidence that show “wide-scale abuses of human rights” by the military.

The CRPH said it has directed its international legal counsel at the Volterra Fietta law firm to communicate with different international human rights bodies of the United Nations to share evidence of the Myanmar regime’s crimes.

The fire at the JOC Galaxy (Myanmar) Apparel factory in Hlaing Tharyar township started at around 5:35am and was put out by 6:55am, the township’s fire department reported. No details about the extent of the damage from the blaze were released.

The fire and the blasts came as the regime claimed on state TV on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with an incident that took place outside the US embassy’s American Centre on March 27.

The regime alleged that Aye Thaw Kaung, a member of the family that owns the famous Shwe Puzun bakery in Yangon, had purchased a high-pressure air gun online for 190,000 kyat and used it to fire lead balls at the centre in order to “create political complications” in relations between the United States and Myanmar.

Aye Thaw Kaung was also identified as a supporter of the National League for Democracy, the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the military seized power.

Pro-democracy demonstrations have taken place around the country almost continuously since the coup, resulting in a steady escalation of violence by the regime in an effort to crush popular resistance to its rule.

On Tuesday, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body consisting of lawmakers from the ousted civilian government, released a statement claiming that it had collected 180,000 pieces of evidence that show “wide-scale abuses of human rights” by the military.

The CRPH said it has directed its international legal counsel at the Volterra Fietta law firm to communicate with different international human rights bodies of the United Nations to share evidence of the Myanmar regime’s crimes. The fire at the JOC Galaxy (Myanmar) Apparel factory in Hlaing Tharyar township started at around 5:35am and was put out by 6:55am, the township’s fire department reported. No details about the extent of the damage from the blaze were released.

The fire and the blasts came as the regime claimed on state TV on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with an incident that took place outside the US embassy’s American Centre on March 27.

The regime alleged that Aye Thaw Kaung, a member of the family that owns the famous Shwe Puzun bakery in Yangon, had purchased a high-pressure air gun online for 190,000 kyat and used it to fire lead balls at the centre in order to “create political complications” in relations between the United States and Myanmar.

Aye Thaw Kaung was also identified as a supporter of the National League for Democracy, the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the military seized power.

Pro-democracy demonstrations have taken place around the country almost continuously since the coup, resulting in a steady escalation of violence by the regime in an effort to crush popular resistance to its rule.

On Tuesday, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body consisting of lawmakers from the ousted civilian government, released a statement claiming that it had collected 180,000 pieces of evidence that show “wide-scale abuses of human rights” by the military.

The CRPH said it has directed its international legal counsel at the Volterra Fietta law firm to communicate with different international human rights bodies of the United Nations to share evidence of the Myanmar regime’s crimes.

At least six civilians were killed by Myanmar’s military regime on Saturday, sending the death toll in the crackdown on anti-regime protests to at least 555 across the country.

Despite violence at the hands of the military regime, thousands of civilians in Sagaing, Mandalay regions, and Mon, Kayah and Kachin States took to the streets to take a stand against military rule.

Three civilians were shot dead when police and soldiers opened fire into crowds of protesters with live ammunition early Saturday morning in Monywa, Sagaing region.

Ko Wai Moe Naing, a leading member of the Monywa general strike committee told The Irrawaddy, “When police and soldiers sprayed bullets into the crowd, young people from the defensive team fought back. They tried to deter them from entering our neighborhoods. But we lost three people in the early morning.”

He said two were shot dead in head and another one was shot dead in neck by the security forces. Many at the protest were also wounded, he added.

Soldiers and police have been patrolling around the neighborhoods in the city where people have shown strong support for the anti-coup protesters. Since the Feb.1 coup, at least 20 people in Monywa have been killed by security forces during the crackdown on pro-democracy supporters.

Another two civilians were also killed by the military regime during an attack on an anti-coup protest in Thaton, Mon State. Residents said that at least 20 young people were also arrested by the regime at the protest event.

A local medic said that one person was shot dead in the chest while another was shot dead in the head by the security forces.

A 26-year-old Chin ethnic man, Salai Than Gang, died at this home Saturday afternoon from an abdominal wound suffered when he was shot by security forces in Kale, Sagaing, on March 1 during an assault on an anti-coup protest.

Moreover, a bystander was shot when the regimes’ forces opened fire randomly from a monastery compound where they have established a base near Shwe Maw Daw Pagoda, in Bago. An 18-year-old, Ko Aung Myat Mon, was in critical condition after he was shot in the abdomen.

“He was on the way to see his friend. It has been ten days that they have occupied the monastery. Four were already shot dead by them,” a resident in Bago told The Irrawaddy.

“We don’t dare to walk near the monastery. They shoot randomly as soon as they see people on street,” he said.

In the early morning, an unidentified woman was found dead with her hands tied behind her back in a ditch in Thamine No.1 ward, in Yangon’s Mayangone Township. Police took her body away, and the cause of death is still unknown.

The junta’s police force raided The Hakha Post, an ethnic media outlet based in Chin State, on Saturday, the publication’s editor said.

Police officers broke into the organisation’s office in the state capital of Hakha at around 10am on April 3, editor Pu Thawng reported. He added that no staff members were present at the time of the raid; they had cleared out after Myanmar’s February 1 military coup.

“We had predicted the raid since early February so we managed to escape in advance. We took over half of our [office] property,” he said. “Two computers were taken [in the raid], I heard. But only one of them was in good condition. They also took a pile of documents in a white sack.”

The raid of the Hakha Post comes amid an intensified crackdown by the regime’s armed forces on anti-coup movements in neighboring Sagaing and Magwe regions, where many ethnic Chin communities have been defending themselves against the junta’s violence.

The Hakha Post focuses on producing regional news and publishes articles in the Hakha Chin language. While it has ceased printing daily newspapers, it has continued online publication.

“Since the last week of March, we have not been able to publish newspapers safely. It was not safe for our reporters [to gather news], so we stopped the print edition. We have arranged to continue producing news online from a safe place,” Pu Thawng told Myanmar Now.

Chin State is home to multiple local media outlets, including Chin World, The Hakha Times, The Hakha Post, Khonumthung News, and Zalen Media.

According to Detained Journalists Information Myanmar, a Facebook group run by journalists and writers, more than 56 journalists have been arrested or targeted for arrest since the coup.

Around 28 reporters have been released from regime custody, but, at the time of reporting, the rest remained in prison. Many have been charged with violating Section 505a of the Penal Code, which carries a prison sentence of up to three years for causing fear, spreading fake news or agitating against government employees.

The junta has also brought a case under the same law against Yangon-based media outlet The Irrawaddy News for showing “disregard” for the armed forces in its reporting of anti-regime protests.

Five publications, including Myanmar Now and Mizzima, had their offices raided and their publishing licences revoked in early March by the ruling junta.

On the night of March 24, police raided the media outlet’s office and two of its employees’ homes in Taunggyi, the capital of Shan state, and detained editor-in-charge Nann Nann Tai, reporter Nann Win Yi, and publisher Tin Aung Kyaw, according to a Facebook post by the outlet and a report by The Irrawaddy.

Kanbawza Tai News editor-in-chief Zay Tai told The Irrawaddy that the outlet had not received any warning or legal action before the arrests, and he did not know where the staffers were being held.

CPJ emailed and called Kanbawza Tai News, an independent news outlet which posts stories on its website and social media, but did not receive any responses. The outlet’s news website was still posting updates as of today, and has recently covered strikes and demonstrations against the country’s military government, which took power in a February coup.

“The jailing of Kanbawza Tai News staffers Nann Nann Tai, Nann Win Yi, and Tin Aung Kyaw is the latest in a lengthening list of crimes against the press by the Myanmar junta,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “They must be immediately and unconditionally freed along with all other journalists wrongfully detained in Myanmar.”

Zay Tai told The Irrawaddy that authorities had previously tried to arrest him in mid-March in a separate house raid, but he escaped.

Also on March 24, Myanmar authorities released hundreds of political prisoners, most of whom had been detained in clampdowns on anti-military protests, including Associated Press journalist Thein Zaw and Polish freelance photographer Robert Bociaga, according to news reports.

At least 23 other journalists remain in detention, including the Kanbawza Tai News staffers, according to data shared with CPJ by the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners, an independent rights group.

Twelve of those journalists have been charged under the penal code, with at least 10 facing charges under Article 505(a), a broad criminal provision that penalizes the dissemination of information that could agitate or cause security forces or state officials to mutiny, that data shows.

CPJ emailed the Ministry of Information for comment, but did not receive an immediate reply.

Ko La Raw from Kachin Waves and Ma Chan Bu, from the 74 Media, were arrested by the military while reporting in the city of Myitkyina on March 29. Witnesses said the journalists were both beaten and detained by authorities while reporting on a crackdown on anti-regime protestors.

The arrests coincide with escalating violence across the region, with reports of more than 114 people killed across Myanmar on Saturday, March 27, including several children. Police also opened fire on a funeral crowd in the city of Bago for Thae Maung Maung, a 20-year-old killed March 27. Myanmar’s annual Armed Forces Day on March 27 was the bloodiest single day since the coup began on February 1. As the anti-regime protests entered their seventh week, the UN released a statement condemning the violence and calling on the military “to immediately stop killing the very people it has the duty to serve and protect”.

On Sunday afternoon, a 38-year-old ethnic Chin woman, Ah Khu a leader of civil society group Women for Justice based in Sagaing Region’s Kale township, was slain by security forces during a crackdown against an anti-regime protest in the town. Another three men were also killed by the junta’s forces.

A resident told The Irrawaddy on Sunday that Ah Khu was deliberately shot by two security forces dressed in civilian clothes.

The Women's League of Burma described her as "a woman with a dedicated spirit and hopeful mind".

"We salute her courage, her commitment and her cause," it said.

Myanmar security forces killed 14 people Monday during demonstrations in towns across the country following the deadliest weekend since the February military coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

The group, which has been monitoring the violence, said Monday’s toll brings the total number of deaths since the February 1 coup to at least 510.

Eight of the deaths that took place Monday occurred in Myanmar's main city, Yangon, according to AAPP.

Protests took place Monday throughout the country, including in Sagaing Region, where hundreds of mourners lined the street to pay tribute to a 20-year-old nursing student who was shot and killed Sunday while helping provide aid to injured protesters.

Taking a stand

Thinzar Hein’s parents told her not to go, but she went anyway.

Her father was reportedly a member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, the army-backed party that had suffered a humiliating defeat in last year’s election. He disapproved of the protests against the February 1 coup, but she was determined to join others who opposed the regime. She left home because she wanted to stand on her own two feet.

She said as much during a speech that she delivered in front of Monywa’s clock tower on February 22, the day of the “five twos” (22/2/2021) general strike that marked the start of an effort to turn weeks of protests around the country into a nationwide uprising.

By this time, public employees had already launched the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that aimed to cripple the regime’s capacity to rule. Thinzar Hein said she had lost respect for teachers at her nursing school who did not join the CDM.

“You should be ashamed if you can’t say in the future that you were a part of the revolution,” she said.

Aye Aye heard this speech and was impressed. But their friendship began when Thinzar Hein started giving her rides to the protests on her motorcycle.

Since Thinzar Hein had nowhere to live after leaving her parent’s home, Aye Aye let her stay at her hostel. That’s when Thinzar Hein taught her how to provide basic emergency medical care, she said.

At first it was just the two of them who went wherever they were needed to help the wounded. That meant anywhere they could hear the sound of gunshots that had become a feature of everyday life in Monywa and cities all over Myanmar since the coup.

Then, on March 3, they saw a man who had been shot in the leg die right before their eyes. Thinzar Hein knew he might have been saved if they had been better prepared to deal with his injuries. And so they decided to form an emergency medical team, raising funds to buy proper medical equipment through their network of fellow protesters.

Facing death

Thinzar Hein used her formal medical training to teach others how to tend to the wounded. In a small room, she instructed 20 people at a time in the first-aid techniques that would make the difference between life and death for victims of a regime intent on terrorizing the country into submission.

“She was very passionate,” Aye Aye said of her friend, recalling Thinzar Hein’s reaction to the death of the man who had been shot in the leg.

“She said she knew there were going to be more shootings,” she added, speaking to Myanmar Now soon after undergoing surgery on her shoulder.

That certainty fuelled Thinzar Hein’s determination to be prepared for any eventuality, including her own death.

In her final message to friends and family, she asked for the forgiveness of those she would have to leave behind if she didn’t survive her dangerous mission.

“I hope my loved ones will forgive me for embarking on a path that doesn’t guarantee a safe return,” she wrote on her Facebook page two days before she was murdered by Myanmar’s terrorist junta.

While regime forces go on a state-sanctioned killing spree, medics and other volunteers around the country continue to put their own lives on the line in the hope that they can save even one injured civilian.

Even when they know there is no one left to save, they return to protest sites day after day to collect the bodies of the dead before they can be taken away and disposed of by their killers.

After a night of bloodshed, people like Thinzar Hein will arrive at a scene of carnage before dawn to attend to both the living and the dead. If they are caught off-guard, they, too, will become casualties of the regime’s war on human decency.

“This is not okay. Even in international wars, medics are not targeted. But here, they’re worried their actions will be exposed, and so they fire at everyone,” said one doctor in Mandalay, describing the behaviour of the junta’s forces.

Dying in agony

Often, medical volunteers will wait for hours for soldiers to leave, knowing that that many victims won’t live long enough to be rescued in the morning.

These are agonizing hours, when they have to listen to people in need of immediate attention moaning in pain. In Monywa, one team spent three hours like this, blocked by soldiers who stood ready to shoot them on sight, until the victim finally fell silent. By the time they were able to reach him, the 30-year-old man had bled to death.

“There was a big cement wall we used as cover, but we couldn’t get to him. We could only pick him up after he was dead,” said a member of the team that attempted to rescue the man.

“Every time we are forced to watch someone die from nearby, it hurts. Every second is important for a bleeding patient,” said the doctor in Mandalay, where many volunteers have had similar experiences.

A member of one rescue team in Myanmar’s second-largest city said he once spent six hours in this situation, as multiple gunshot victims slowly died from their injuries.

“The worst time was in Aung Pin Lal, where they even shot at ambulances and medics had to run for their lives, leaving patients behind,” he said. “Some died of blood loss, and there was nothing we could do about it. It was just a really sad sight.”

Another member of the team was killed at the same time, and his body was never recovered, he added.

Often, he said, family members of people who have gone missing will turn up at emergency clinics in tears, hoping to find them still alive. In many cases, however, the rescue workers can’t even manage to bring back their dead bodies.

And then there are those who somehow escape on their own, but don’t dare seek treatment because of the heavy military presence. Only when their condition becomes truly dire will they come out of hiding.

When Thinzar Hein was shot, her expressed wish to be abandoned to avoid further death was ignored by another member of her team, who crawled to her body under heavy fire and rolled it to a side street so that he could pick it up and carry it to a clinic, where she was declared dead on arrival.

Like others inspired by Thinzar Hein’s example, her friend Aye Aye vowed to continue her work as soon as she recovered from her injuries.

“I will keep fighting,” she said. “I will always be a part of her team.”

At least 18 people were shot dead and dozens more injured in cities across Myanmar during lethal crackdowns by soldiers and police on anti-coup protesters on Wednesday, making it clear that the military regime is waging an all-out war against its own people in an effort to restore the full-blown Orwellian state it existed as for many decades.

It is tied with Sunday as being the deadliest day of demonstrations since protests began after the February 1 coup.

Myanmar Now spoke to sources in five cities, but there were also reports of shootings and arrests in towns and cities around the country.

Mandalay

In Mandalay, security forces killed a 37-year-old man and 19-year-old woman in a crackdown on demonstrations that used live ammunition and stun grenades.

The victims have been identified as Myo Naing Lin, who suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, and Kyel Sin, who was shot in the side of her head, emergency workers and family members told Myanmar Now.

At least 11 people were also injured in the shootings by security forces, according to medics on the ground. Of those injured, two are in critical condition, having suffered gunshots to the forehead and to the back.

Monywa

In the town of Monywa in Sagaing Region, seven people were killed and an estimated 70 were injured after security forces attacked them with live ammunition, stun grenades and tear gas.

The identities of four of the casualties were known at the time of reporting: 26-year-old Kyawt Nandar Aung, 23-year-old Moe Aung, 37-year-old Myint Myint Sein and 17-year-old Min Khant Kyaw. There was also a 45-year-old man who was shot and killed but whose name had not been released.

Two of the victims were shot in the head: Kyawt Nandar Aung and Moe Aung.

Further details of the victims were unavailable, as well as the identity of the remaining two.

One of the protesters told Myanmar Now in a phone interview that security forces in a police truck took away two bodies of people who had been shot dead in the attack.

“Two other dead bodies soaked in blood were taken away by dogs,” he said, referring to police and soldiers.

Myingyan

In the town of Myingyan in central Myanmar, 22-year-old Zin Ko Ko Thaw died from a gunshot wound to the head and at least 15 other people were injured during the crackdown on a protest of tens of thousands of local residents.

A Myingyan local told Myanmar Now that around 150 soldiers and police had violently broken up the demonstration without any warning.

“It was so sudden, like a military operation. No warnings for the crackdown at all,” he said.

Mawlamyine

The Mawlamyine-based Than Lwin Times reported that 19-year-old bystander Htet Wai Htoo was killed this afternoon after being shot in the head with a live bullet by security forces who entered his neighbourhood.

He was pronounced brain-dead and died of the injury, according to the Than Lwin Times.

Yangon

Meanwhile in Yangon, police and soldiers killed at least seven protesters with live ammunition during a crackdown in North Okkalapa township, some 18 kilometers from downtown Yangon.

Wednesday marked the first deadly crackdown in this area of the city by the security forces after similar attacks were carried out at other major protest sites, including Hledan and Sanchaung.

Two of the victims have been identified as 19-year-old Htet Aung and 20-year-old Min Oo, according to a doctor from a nearby private hospital who helped treat those wounded in the crackdown.

Htet Aung was pronounced dead from a gunshot to the chest upon arrival at the hospital, while Min Oo, who was shot in the lower abdomen, died of his injuries later in the afternoon. Four people were pronounced dead upon arrival at the North Okkalapa public hospital, and another person died after being admitted for treatment, according to an emergency room doctor from the hospital.

The doctor said that there had been a total of 16 people injured and admitted to the public hospital.

No further details were available at the time of reporting.

Even though there are reports of more deaths in Yangon, at the time of reporting, Myanmar Now could independently verify only seven deaths.

Myanmar’s military regime marked its Armed Forces Day on Saturday by slaughtering more than 100 people across the country, making it the bloodiest single day since the generals seized power on Feb. 1.

As of evening, The Irrawaddy has recorded at least 102 people, including at least four children ranging in age from 5 to 15, killed on Saturday in 41 locations in 10 out of Myanmar’s 14 states and regions.

Most of the victims were shot dead by trigger-happy soldiers and police during crackdowns on anti-protesters. One child was hit with a randomly sprayed bullet while playing.

Since early February, the junta has staged fatal assaults on protesters across the country who are opposed to military rule. A total of 429 have been slain so far.

While Saturday marked the seventh week of protest against the regime, it was also the 76th anniversary of Armed Forces Day, an annual celebration for the military to mark Myanmar’s resistance against the Japanese fascists in 1945.

However, protesters across the country viewed Saturday as “Revolutionary Day” against the regime and poured into streets. True to form, the regime’s soldiers and police responded with a burst of bloodshed, as if the heightened violence was a way of commemorating their special occasion.

The bloodshed came to Dala Township, a small town across the Yangon River, just after midnight. Eight people were shot dead about 12:30 a.m. Saturday as a crowd besieged a police station demanding that security forces release two women detained after a protest on Friday morning.

“They [security forces] kept shooting until 3 a.m. Several people were injured. Some of them are still critical condition,” a witness said.

A woman mourns for her family member killed by the regime’s troops on Saturday. In northern Yangon’s Insein Township, residents took to the streets at 2:30 a.m. to set up roadblocks, taking advantage of the absence of security forces in the small hours. Deadly crackdowns came about 6 a.m. and continued on into the day, resulting in four deaths.

A nurse from a local professional medic team that provided medical assistance in the area throughout the day said that not only protesters were slain. People like a drinking water deliveryman and other bystanders were either shot dead in the head and abdomen or wounded as attacks continued in neighboring areas and townships.

“They are devils. How can a human being behave like this? I can’t even find any proper words to describe their brutality,” said the nurse who gave her name as “Soe” for security reasons.

While Insein residents ran for their lives and fought back with whatever they could find—from broken bricks to slingshots to Molotov cocktails to burning piles of tires—coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing celebrated Armed Forces Day on a grand scale in the capital 200 miles away.

In his lengthy and cliché-ridden speech to a gathering of troops, he said the military has historically prioritized the safeguarding of the nation and its people and repeated his worn out excuse on staging the takeover by saying, “There was massive electoral fraud.”

A few hours after of his boast about how the military safeguards the nation and its people, his troops killed four civilians, including a 13-year-old girl, in Meiktila in Mandalay Region. The deaths occurred when security forces fired shots into a housing estate in an effort to disperse protesters.

It’s worth asking why the people of Myanmar are still taking to the streets, risking their lives to the violence of the regime’s troops.

A 26-year-old protester in Yangon’s Thaketa Township said he keeps protesting because he’s afraid of losing his future in the regime’s hands.

“We are not lambs to the slaughter. But if we stayed quiet, it would be the same as dying. So we fight for our hope and our future,” he said.

In northern Shan State’s Lashio, three more protesters including a lawyer were killed. They were shot in the head and chest when police and soldiers opened fire on anti-coup demonstrators, according to a local charity group. It also reported that several people were wounded during the crackdown.

“We could not retrieve the dead bodies. They dragged the bodies and the injured people onto a military truck,” a volunteer from the charity group told The Irrawaddy.

Coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing inspects troops during the Armed Forces Day parade in Naypyitaw on Saturday. ( Commander-in-Chief Office) Not surprisingly, the record-breaking killings by soldiers and police on Armed Forces Day have shocked diplomatic missions in the country.

The European Union in Myanmar said, “This 76th Myanmar Armed Forces Day will forever stay engraved as a day of terror and dishonor.”

“The killing of unarmed civilians, including children, is indefensible,” the EU statement said.

US Ambassador Thomas Vajda condemned the security forces for “murdering unarmed civilians, including children, the very people they swore to protect” while calling for an immediate end to the violence and the restoration of the democratically elected government.

“This bloodshed is horrifying. These are not the actions of a professional military or police force,” he said in a statement released on Saturday.

For the nurse Soe in Yangon, the regime’s brutality prompted her to question one of her professional ethics: neutrality.

“As professional health workers, we are supposed to help anyone whoever they are. But they even killed kids! They shot people living in their homes,” she said.

So, would she save a dying soldier or wounded policeman now?

“I would surely do it in the past. But, not now!” she vowed.

Almost two months after the military seized power, people across Myanmar doggedly continued the fight to topple the regime on Thursday with protests in towns and cities across the country.

Once again, the military responded with murderous attacks, killing at least six. Fatalities were confirmed in Shan State’s Taunggyi, Kachin state’s Mohnyin and Sagaing region’s Khin-U.

The regime has now killed 320 people, including 20 children, in its bid to crush the democratic uprising, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Thursday’s renewed protests came a day after the country observed a “Silent Strike”. Businesses closed and people stayed in their homes as streets remained empty of pedestrians and cars.

The action was a show of strength and unity in response to the military’s hamfisted efforts to resume business as usual and force the economy to reopen after weeks of devastating strikes. It was also aimed at allowing people a chance to rest.

Here is a roundup of Thursday’s violence by region, as well as some additional details from Wednesday night that have now been confirmed:

Taunggyi, Shan state

Four people were killed and several, including a pregnant woman, were injured when soldiers opened fire on protesters in Taunggyi, locals said. The troops also used tear gas and rubber bullets during the attack.

Photos taken by locals and circulated on social media showed the regime’s forces beating residents and destroying their properties.

Residents said the army used drone cameras to watch over residential areas but Myanmar Now was unable to verify this.

Sources from the town said nearly 60 people were arrested during Thursday’s attacks and several people had their mobile phones seized.

Mohnyin, Kachin state

Forty-year-old Win Swe was shot in the abdomen and killed in Mohnyin when the junta’s forces opened fire on a crowd that had gathered in front of the police station to demand the release of nine protesters who were arrested on Thursday morning.

“At first, the police just said to disperse. Later a truck full of soldiers arrived and opened fire,” said a member of an aid group that is helping the injured.

Win Swe was a gasoline seller and a resident of the Aung Thabyay ward in Mohnyin.

Two other people in their 30s were severely injured during the attack, Mohnyin locals said.

hin-U, Sagaing region

In Khin-U, Sagaing region, troops from a battalion in nearby Shwebo attacked a pro-democracy demonstration and killed a 19-year-old demonstrator named Zaw Win Maung.

Two others were injured, according to a Khin-U resident.

“We had blocked main roads in town and troops from Shwebo came on foot to where we were at around midday. They started shooting as soon as they arrived,” the resident said.

Zaw Min Maung passed away at around 6pm while being treated at a local monastery. Soldiers then came and took his body as well as an injured teenager, whose whereabouts and condition is unknown.

On Wednesday night police arrested a group of 14 volunteer night guards in Aung Chan Thar ward. Residents then surrounded the police station to demand their release.

Police shot at the crowd outside the station but later released the night guards, a local said. Mandalay

A junta crackdown on a nighttime protest in Mandalay’s Kyaukpadaung township on Wednesday night left one person dead and three severely injured, a local rescue worker said. The protest was held to mark the end of the day’s Silent Strike.

Soldiers attacked the protest at around 8pm. Kyi Sett Hlaing, 23, was shot in the thigh and bled to death at around 11pm after he was unable to access medical treatment.

The rescue worker said his charity was delayed trying to reach injured protesters because there were soldiers patrolling the main road in the town in search of people who had left broken glass out to slow the advance of military vehicles.

“They were looking for those who shattered glass on the road, so we couldn’t go freely,” he said.

Also on Wednesday night, in Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi township, a 16-year-old boy was killed during an attack on residents who were banging pots at Sein Pan street near the intersection of 66th and 67th streets, a doctor who helped treat the injured told Myanmar Now.

The victim was identified as Phoe Hti. He was shot in the back by the junta’s troops, according to his relatives.The shootings started at 8:30pm and at least five other residents were injured, a rescue team said.

Before the shooting, soldiers shouted: “If you have courage, come out now!” a resident said.

“After we banged pots, they came in shouting ‘Who has the courage? Who was banging pots? Come out now!’ They then went around shooting. I’ve heard that some night watchmen were shot,” the resident added.

One person was shot in the abdomen and the other in the leg, she added.

“No rescue team has arrived, they have been left just like that,” she added, speaking at around 9pm on Wednesday. “We don’t dare to go out to look either.”

Ambulances were able to enter the area around 9:30pm that night and took the injured people to a clinic, a doctor said.

A BBC journalist and a former Mizzima News reporter were arrested by men believed to be plainclothes officers in Naypyitaw on Friday afternoon, a family member confirmed.

BBC Burmese journalist Aung Thura was in front of the Dekkhina District court to report on a hearing for National League for Democracy patron Win Htein when he was arrested. Former Mizzima correspondent Than Htike Aung was with him at the time of the arrest.

No further details of the arrest or the reporters’ detention were known at the time of reporting, according to Aung Thura’s relative.

“I saw some plainclothes officers dragging away a person in trousers into a car,” lawyer Min Min Soe, who was near the court at the time, told Myanmar Now. The man she saw is believed to be Than Htike Aung.

“Two other officers in plainclothes were hassling another individual in a paso [traditional sarong for men] and glasses,” she said, referring to Aung Thura. “It was quite a scene so I don’t know what happened next.”

BBC News issued a statement on Friday afternoon saying that they are "doing everything [they] can" to find Aung Thura, who they described as being taken away by unidentified men.

“We call on the authorities to help locate him and confirm that he is safe,” the statement said.

As of March 16, a total of 38 journalists had been arrested or targeted for arrest since the February 1 coup. The latest arrests of the BBC and former Mizzima journalists push this number up to 40.

Only 22 of these reporters have been released. Ten journalists have been charged with violating Section 505(a) of the penal code, which has been used against people who are seen as causing fear, spreading fake news, or agitating government employees. Under recent amendments to the law, the charges come with a three-year prison sentence if convicted.

Online news website The Irrawaddy has also been charged by the junta as violating the same statute for showing “disregard” for the armed forces in their reporting of the ongoing anti-regime protests.

Five publications, including Myanmar Now and Mizzima had their offices raided and their publishing licenses revoked earlier this month by the regime.

The junta’s armed forces shot and killed a protester in Monywa, Sagaing Region, on Sunday morning as a crowd of people set up preparations for an anti-coup demonstration.

Twenty-three-year-old Min Min Zaw was shot in the head while setting up street barricades on the frontline, a local doctor on strike told Myanmar Now.

Nine people were injured when police and soldiers shot live ammunition into the crowd, with four in critical condition at the time of reporting, according to the doctor.

As the regime’s forces took over the main roads in Monywa to deter civilians from protesting, locals instead used side streets to hold their rallies against the February 1 military coup, building makeshift barricades in the roads for protection.

Min Min Zaw was shot dead at the Bo Tayza Street in Monywa when the armed forces came to destroy these barricades.

Despite the killing of Min Min Zaw, Monywa residents continued to hold their rally against the regime for the 43rd day since February 7.

Twelve people have been killed in total in Monywa by police and soldiers.

Nationwide, the regime has killed at least 247 people since the military coup, according to advocacy group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

However, medics and rescue workers believe that the actual number of protest-related deaths may be much higher than the AAPP’s estimates, as there are multiple reports of missing persons, and family members who say they have been unable to claim the bodies of their loved ones from the regime.

Despite the ongoing deadly crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations by the armed forces, defiant protesters in Myanmar continued to take to the streets on Sunday in towns and cities across the country.

On 20 March, protesters gathered at Sanam Luang demanding that the power of the monarchy be limited under the constitution. The police responded by setting up a long barrier of containers. The people faced retaliation after removing the blockade. Rubber bullets, tear gas, and water cannon were deployed broadly and indiscriminately.

As of Sunday morning, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights reported that 32 people were arrested. 30 people were taken to Border Patrol Police Region 1 headquarters in Pathum Thani for detention and investigation.

The Erawan Medical Centre reported on Sunday that 33 people were injured and transferred to hospital.

The protest was scheduled after a popular vote in the REDEM communication group. Protesters gathered at Sanam Luang at around 17.50 to face a long barrier of containers stacked two-high barring them from accessing the Grand Palace walls. The blockade was reportedly put in place at around 07.00 on Saturday. As more people arrived, some protesters were seen pulling down part of the wall of containers. At around 19.00 a path opened up after a row of containers was removed. Crowd control police behind the blockade began to warn the protesters not to cross the line otherwise they would be arrested.

At 19.02 water cannon opened fire from behind the blockade as the police were preparing arrest teams. 8 explosions were heard. The protesters retreated to Phan Phipop Lila Bridge before re-entering Sanam Luang, waving large white banners, only to face more water cannon fire. The water was reportedly infused with a tear gas agent. At around 19.30, the protesters were flanked by crowd control police who marched from Ratchadamnoen Road toward the protesters. The police on both sides then started forcibly dispersing protestors. Tear gas and rubber bullets were widely used at this stage as the protesters made a retreat to Phra Pinklao Bridge, the only major exit that remained open.

Doi, a 15-year-old young woman, was injured in the left chest by a rubber bullet. She said she was at the Mother Earth Statue across Sanam Luang when the police announced that they would arrest people who were lingering on the street. However, the police shot her after a couple seconds without allowing her to run. Doi said she was terrified and hurt. She said her family is not against her coming to the protest. However, getting hurt is not what she wanted as she was afraid of missing a test because of her injury.

The standoff at Phra Pinklao Bridge went on for around 1 hour. Tear gas and explosions were observed several times. The media around Ratchadamnoen Road were restricted in a designated area by the police.

At 20.43, crowd control police opened a path to Atsadang Road, allowing protesters to leave. Police asked the media to lead the people out of the area. Afraid of an ambush by a pro-monarchy vigilante group, the protesters urged the police to lead them out to a safe place. 2 units of police were deployed to lead the protesters out.

At 21.45, a person was attacked by an unidentified group of men around Wat Mahannapharam with some sort of flag pole. He was injured in the head and taken to hospital.

At 21.53, the Coalition of Salaya for Democracy posted on Facebook that a person was shot with live ammunition by unknown men around the Giant Swing.

At 22.24, Prachatai journalist Sarayut Tangprasert was shot in the back by a rubber bullet while livestreaming the crackdown at Kok Wua intersection, leading to Khao San Road. He was wearing a media armband provided by the Thai Journalists Association (TJA). During the night, journalists from Channel 8 and Khaosod were injured by rubber bullets, one to the head and one to the leg.

The police set up a line at Kok Wua intersection, moving back and forth to disperse protestors. People who were sitting in Khao San Road booed them before the police moved away from the famous tourist destination which is now less crowded due to the pandemic. Deputy Police Spokesperson Pol Col Kritsana Pattanacharoen said the police responded to the protest in accordance with legal provisions, noting that the protest was not allowed according to the restrictions of the Emergency Decree to control the spread of Covid-19. The police had warned the protesters not to trespass beyond the blockade. Protesters still came forward and some attacked the police with marbles or bolts fired by slingshots.

“In carrying out their duty this evening, police officers have used restraint, acting according to the steps of the law, acting strictly according to regulations in political science and legal principles,” said Kritsana.

At 21.15, the Medics and Nurses for the People volunteer group estimated that at least 30 people had been injured from tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannon blasts and assaults.

At around 23.00 a clash broke out at Wan Chat Bridge, 400 meters from the Democracy Monument when protesters seized a police van and used it as a shield. The Tempo News reported men were caught throwing a home-made explosive at the police from the lines of media. Molotov cocktails were used but quickly put out. Police returned fire with tear gas and rubber bullets.

According to the Reporters Facebook live feed, crowd control police staged a crackdown at around 23.00, resulting in 9 arrests. 1 police officer and 1 other person were injured and taken away from the scene.

On 23.30, the Dao Din activist group gathered in front of Khon Kaen University Police Station to protest against the violence in Bangkok.

Calm before the storm The Free YOUTH Movement, one of the protest organizers formed in 2020, published a statement demanding limits to the power of the monarchy, the demilitarization of politics and universal social welfare. Activities began peacefully. The protest on Saturday was meant to send messages via paper planes to address the issue of limiting the power of the monarchy under the constitution. People were seen flying kites, raising banners and spraying the ground with graffiti.

The artists' network Free Arts were also organising activities during the protest. Earlier in the evening, they were spray-painting pictures of activists currently imprisoned for charges relating to political activities, as well as messages such as “Free our friends” and “Abolish Section 112” onto kites, which can then be seen flying above Sanam Luang. A representative of the group said that the idea behind the event is that several of the imprisoned activists are facing charges because of the protest at Sanam Luang on 19 – 20 September 2020, so the group decided to paint their pictures onto kites to show that they are thinking of those who are imprisoned.

The representative also said that one of the activities they think of when they return to Sanam Luang was flying kites, and that the event is also symbolic of how Sanam Luang used to be a public space where anyone can organize an event.

Free Arts also planned to use the space for dancing, and said that there is also a plan for participants to read out Anon Nampa’s speech on monarchy reform. However, these activities did not take place as the protest was cut short due to police violence.

Eak, joining the protest wearing a T-shirt with a parody of the Naruto manga, changing the name to Narutu, a reference to the nickname (Tu) of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha. He said he wanted to express his anger at Thai politics. “I am angry at the senators who rejected the draft constitution. I am angry that our friends were ordered to be detained by the court without a verdict. It is against international principles, against every theory, against everything.”

Eak wants the government to step down for the good of Thai children and the future.

BANGKOK — At least 20 people were taken into custody after riot police broke up a protest calling for a monarchy reform at Sanam Luang on Saturday night, police said Sunday.

The rally outside the Grand Palace was organized by the REDEM group, who had said they planned to have demonstrators throw paper planes with messages over the palace walls.

The protesters, who numbered close to 1,000, gathered at Sanam Luang, where they were met with a massive barricade made of shipping containers to defend palace grounds. They proceeded to dismantle the obstacle installed by the police, to which the police retaliated with water cannons, tear gas, and rubber bullets as they moved in to clear out the remaining protesters in the vicinity.

Protesters pull down a shipping container used as a barricade near the Grand Palace on Mar. 20, 2021. Protesters pull down a shipping container used as a barricade near the Grand Palace on Mar. 20, 2021. “Demonstrators began the violence,” deputy Bangkok police commander Piya Tawichai said. “The police were on the defense, since we were tasked to enforce laws and defend public property. Although the protesters claimed that they are leaderless, our investigation found that they actually have leaders, but they are not coming forward.”

Police said a total of 20 people were arrested during the crackdown on protesters last night, though the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights group reported as many as 32 people, including seven minors, were taken into custody.

They faced six charges, which include breaking the Emergency Decree’s ban on mass gatherings, causing public disturbance, and resisting arrests, police said.

Khaosod English correspondents at the scene said police appeared to rely heavily on rubber bullets than any crowd control measures on Saturday night, especially during smaller clashes that flared up at multiple locations along the historic Ratchadamnoen Avenue as demonstrators hurled objects, including devices believed to be firecrackers, and set fires to deter riot police.

Bangkok’s emergency medical service center said a total of 33 people were injured. Twenty of them were civilians, while 13 of them were police officers.

At least three reporters, including Khaosod’s Thanyalak Wannakote and Prachatai’s Sarayut Tangprasert, were hit by rubber bullets. Police said they were hit by stray bullets as officers had already warned them to leave the area.

“We instructed police officers to use riot control measures in accordance with the regulations,” Maj. Gen. Piya said. “We insured warnings to journalists, volunteer medical workers, and civilians to disperse. However, not all of them left, so some were hit by stray bullets during the commotion. The metro police chief has already acknowledged and will visit the victims.”

Thai media guilds issued a joint statement Sunday asking every party to show tolerance, though it did not condemn police use of force on journalists on the frontline.

“Journalists working at protest sites must strictly observe the guidelines for reporting during a crisis to prevent loss of lives and properties,” the statement wrote. “Journalists working at protest sites should wear an identification armband every time, however it is not guaranteed to protect them from violence.”

The REDEM group, short for Restart Democracy, claims to have no leaders and relies on opinion polls on the Telegram messaging app to make key decisions. The group said they will call for another rally on Sunday after the majority voted for, though they have yet to announce the venue.

The military regime has seized control of the bank accounts of billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundation (OSF) in Myanmar and announced that it will take legal action against the foundation, which is accused of violating restrictions on the activities of such organizations.

On Monday, military-controlled MRTV announced that the military had issued arrest warrants for 11 staff members of OSF Myanmar, including its head and deputy head, on suspicion of giving financial support to the civil disobedience movement against the military junta.

The regime also claimed that the world’s largest private funder for justice, democratic governance and human rights had failed to obtain approval from the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM)’s Foreign Exchange Management Department for a deposit of US$5 million (7.04 billion kyats) with the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank (SMED) in Myanmar in 2018.

The foundation is also accused of illegally withdrawing $1.4 million from its account at SMED a week after the military takeover in Myanmar, as the civil disobedience movement was gaining momentum among civil servants across the country.

The military junta also took control of assets totaling $3.81 million and 375 million kyats in OSF bank accounts at four private banks—Kanbawza Bank (KBZ), Ayeyarwady Bank (AYA), SMED and Co-operative Bank (CB), according to MRTV.

The military said it had begun taking control of all illegal flows of money to OSF Myanmar, saying the foundation had breached the law that lays downs the rules and regulations for organizations in the country.

It said it would take legal action against SMED for allowing OSF to deposit $5 million and withdraw $1.4 million without obtaining approval from the CBM.

On March 12, the CBM notified all international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that they would be required to report all financial transactions involving international organizations or individuals from abroad, with relevant bank account information, since April 1, 2016. The order indicates that the military regime intends to investigate the financial transactions of organizations since the National League for Democracy (NLD) took office in early 2016.

The regime said the opening of the OSF Myanmar office came about after George Soros met ousted Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi four times between 2014 and 2017. It said OSF deputy chair Alexander Soros met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi six times from 2017 to 2020.

Military-aligned groups including the Union Solidarity and Development Party have accused Soros of manipulating Myanmar’s politics by supporting civil society organizations in the country. In 2017, lawmaker U Soe Thane, who served as President’s Office minister under U Thein Sein’s administration, objected to a ministerial appointment by the NLD government on grounds that the appointed minister had failed to disclose his previous work for the George Soros Foundation. He said that making the official a national security adviser could hurt Myanmar’s relations with China.

OSF has been supporting Myanmar’s democratic transition and promoting human rights, including those of marginalized groups, since 1994. The foundation said it had awarded more than 100 grants each year, mostly to grassroots civil society organizations including exile, ethnic media and educational organizations.

Following the coup, the military regime launched an investigation into the finances of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a charity founded by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The move is believed to be a pretext to file more charges against the country’s de facto leader.

Chaunggyi, a village in Mandalay region’s Thabeikkyin township, was in a state of fear on Tuesday as regime forces continued to pressure residents a day after inflicting a deadly crackdown.

At least five people were reported dead in the village, located about 100km north of Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay, following Monday’s brutal assault.

The attack began in the afternoon, when soldiers in five army trucks heading south from the town of Thabeikkyin opened fire in Chaunggyi and other villages in the area.

“They mainly hit Chaunggyi and two nearby villages as they were passing through,” a member of a local aid group told Myanmar Now.

One of the five who died instantly was a 15-year-old girl.

“The girl was shot in the chest. She was killed in her own home,” said the aid worker, adding that around 25 others suffered injuries, some of them life-threatening.

Reinforcements sent

The soldiers who carried out the initial attack were soon joined by reinforcements sent north from Singu, according to local sources.

Residents of Nweyon, a village in Singu township, attempted to block the military vehicles as they headed towards Chaunggyi, but soon came under fire themselves, the sources said.

Those who had been shot in Chaunggyi remained in the village overnight without medical care amid fears of facing further violence.

“We were afraid to send the injured to the hospital last night. We were also afraid to go to Mandalay. We didn’t send them to a hospital in the city until this morning,” a resident of Nweyon told Myanmar Now on Tuesday.

“One person who was shot in the groin was in terrible condition,” she said, adding that the victim’s family had no money to pay for hospitalization.

There were also around 14 arrests in Chaunggyi and an unknown number in neighbouring villages, local sources said.

Threats and intimidation

A day after their unprovoked attack, the soldiers returned to Chaunggyi on Tuesday to recover some lost property.

“They said they came back to search for a gun and some bullets they left behind yesterday,” said a Chaunggyi villager.

“They found the gun, but not the bullets. They told us we had five hours. If we didn’t find the bullets in that time, they said they would shoot the entire village,” he added.

They found the bullets at around 5pm on Tuesday and returned them to the soldiers, who were stationed just outside the village.

Meanwhile, the villagers said that a monk who negotiated with the soldiers for the release of those who had been detained has not returned since he was sent to collect them.

“Our monk spoke with them and they promised to release those they had arrested from the village. But the car that went to fetch them hasn't come back,” said Chaunggyi resident Cho Tuu.

Although Singu and Thabeikkyin both have military bases, voters in the two townships overwhelmingly supported the National League for Democracy in last year’s election.

The number of civilians killed by regime forces on Monday has now reached at least 20, according to the latest information received by Myanmar Now.

The week started with a fresh outbreak of deadly violence that came after the worst weekend so far in the junta’s efforts to crush opposition to its February 1 coup.

Killings were reported around the country, with the highest concentration occurring in Yangon, where at least 63 people died on Sunday after soldiers opened fire in several townships.

In Hlaing Tharyar, the scene of some of the deadliest violence over the weekend, six people were murdered, including a man in his 50s who was collecting trash near the Aung Zeya bridge when a soldier approached him and shot him in the head.

Two women in their 60s were also killed when they were hit by bullets fired into their homes on Da Bin Shwe Htee road.

A night of terror

Indiscriminate shooting continued well into the night, resulting in at least two more deaths in the township, according to local residents.

The night of terror began at around 4:30pm, when the military sealed off main roads between the Aung Zeya bridge and the fire station about 2km away and started shooting.

“They were on trucks and shot at anything that moved. They shot anyone they saw,” said one resident, describing the scene on Monday night.

“There were two crab sellers in the area that night. When the trucks came by, they poked their heads out for a look and got shot. Both of them died,” the resident said.

On the other side of Yangon, a crackdown on a peaceful vigil for fallen protesters in Dawbon township left two men dead and four others seriously injured on Monday, a member of a township-based aid group told Myanmar Now.

There was also another death on Monday in South Dagon, one of six townships in Yangon placed under martial law since the weekend as the regime moves to clamp down on protests.

The killing continued in South Dagon on Tuesday, with reports that a man in his 40s had been shot in the head by junta forces. No further details were available.

Shooting at ambulances

Monday’s death toll also rose outside of Yangon, as more of the injured died and earlier figures were revised to reflect the latest available information.

In Myingyan, a town in Mandalay region, six people, including three boys in their teens and a 20-year-old woman, were confirmed dead, doubling the previously reported death count.

At least 17 others were injured during the crackdown, including five who are in critical condition, according to a member of a team that is caring for the wounded protesters.

“We’ve had to hide the dead bodies because we’re worried [the military] might take them away,” the medical support worker said late Monday evening.

He added that soldiers shot into the houses of local people who hid the injured protesters and also at ambulances that transported the dead and wounded to a makeshift clinic.

There were also two confirmed deaths in Chanmya Tharzi, a township in downtown Mandalay, as well as at least five others in smaller centres to the north of the city.

A total of four deaths were also reported in Aunglan in Magway region, Gyobingauk in Bago region, and Monywa in Sagaing region, according to local aid groups.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, Myanmar’s military has killed at least 183 people in the six weeks since it seized power.