Vicky Bowman, the British Ambassador to Myanmar from 2002-2006, and her husband, artist Htein Lin, were arrested by local authorities on 24 August, reports the Byline Times.
According to Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, since the 2021 coup “the military has been in a fight for its domestic survival” and “will do anything to hold onto power, regardless of the international consequences”.
But Vicky Bowman’s arrest is not typical. “The Centre for Responsible Business doesn’t publish human rights reports, and Vicky disagrees in principle with international sanctions,” Farmaner told Byline Times, “she isn’t an obvious target, which means she’s clearly done something they saw as a threat and they arrested her for it.”