Listeners arrested by Burmese soldiers in Mon State

October 31, 2007

The Mon Forum

A 45 year-old Kaw-Zar villager, Nai Aung Khin, was arrested and imprisoned with a seven year sentence for listening to news from exile-based broadcasting services, including BBC, VOA and RFA.

On the 20th of October the People’s police forces at Kaw-Zar police station arrested Nai Aung Khin as the owner of a Kaw-Zar satellite phone. They brought him to Ye Township on the 21st October and on the 22nd he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment. His crimes were an association with anti-government rebels, and listening to news broadcasts from services banned within Burma.

Following this case local villagers have reported feeling so threatened they dare not listen to the radio. “It is one of their methods to make people fear until they do not dare to move,” said an anonymous political expert.

Generally villagers are not interested in news from the propaganda-peddling state-run media, however watching or listening to any other broadcasting services must be done in utmost secrecy, as they live in fear of being discovered by soldiers. Nai Aung Khin will serve his sentence in Ye Township’s prison.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News