A member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), who ran in the previous democratic election in Burma, his daughter who allegedly joined the civil disobedience movement, and five other civilians were detained by the Burma Army (BA) in Mong Ton, eastern Shan State.
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A Mong Ton source, asking for her name to remain anonymous, said that when the soldiers didn’t have evidence to detain the NLD member they checked his daughter’s phone, finding documents related to fund raising for the People’s Defence Force.
Another person, who also didn’t want her name revealed for security concerns, said in addition to these they also found anti-regime text in her phone.
An unnamed local man familiar with the incident said: ”I suspect they were arrested because they were careless. What they should have done was delete all the documents about fund raising for the PDF and the other stuff against the military regime.”
Following their 13 June arrest, the soldiers abducted the other civilians in the town and took them to Myoma Jail, the same place where they brought the father and daughter.
Locals are afraid after the soldiers broke into people’s homes without due process. They worry the BA will tighten security at the checkpoints around the town.
According to the advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the regime has arrested 14,156 people since the coup over 15 months ago.
