Carrying just a small bag, Mya Aye was escorted from his home in the dead of the night by soldiers just as an internet blackout shrouded the country and a dawn coup ousted Aung San Suu Kyi.
“He prepared a little backpack by the door with clothes and toothpaste,” said Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, Burma Campaign UK’s Campaigns Officer and the daughter of Mya Aye, of her father’s contingency plan in the event that whispered rumours of an imminent putsch proved true. “He was arrested twice before so it’s something he is used to.”
Wai Hnin Pwint Thon says Western countries need to impose new targeted sanctions to military-linked institutions and businesses.
She says she does not want other Myanmar people to live through the imprisonment of their loved ones. “The first time I saw my dad was when I was four years old through iron bars at Insein prison. The next generation could live through this again. Children will go see their parents behind bars — this is not the life we want.”