Yettaw ‘friend’ being questioned by police

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Aug 7, 2009 (DVB)–Burma’s police chief has said a girl who traveled into Burma with John Yettaw in 2008 and tried to stop him from visiting Aung San Suu Kyi’s compound is now being questioned by police.

The incident in May in which Yettaw swam to Suu Kyi’s compound was the second time he had done so, the first being in November 2008.

Following the latest incident, a photograph emerged of Yettaw standing alongside a previously unknown Burmese girl.

The picture was taken in the Thai border town of Mae Sot whilst Yettaw was visiting the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP) in 2008, likely shortly before he first traveled into Burma.

Speaking at a press conference today in Rangoon, Burma police chief Khin Yi said that the girl was found in the Burma border town of Myawaddy, across from Mae Sot, and that she was now being questioned but was not under detention.

According to a source who was at the press conference, Khin Yi said she had travelled into Burma with Yettaw in November 2008 and had tried to stop him from entering Suu Kyi’s compound.

It was this incident that triggered the current court case, in which Suu Kyi faces a possible five year sentence for allegedly harbouring a foreigner.

Recently, 23 security officials charged with guarding Suu Kyi’s compound were variously demoted and imprisoned for failing to stop Yettaw from entering, said Khin Yi.

He also said that Yettaw, who is currently in hospital following a fit of seizures earlier this week, fell ill because he refused to eat. He added that authorities have spent 600,000 kyat ($US600) for his hospital bills.

The press conference was attended by foreign diplomats, non-governmental workers and foreign and domestic journalists.

The police chief also touched upon an alleged foiled bomb plot during the visit of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in early July.

According to Khin Yi, authorities arrested a bomb plotter named Htay Aung on 2 July, a day before Ban Ki Moon arrived in Burma. He was allegedly trained outside of Burma by a group called the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors.

Suu Kyi, along with her two caretakers and Yettaw, is due to hear the verdict in her case on Monday, although Yettaw’s health condition could delay it further.

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw

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Three villagers tortured by police in Maungdaw

Maungdaw, Arakan State (KPN): Three villagers, including one woman from Maungdaw Township, were arrested on May 22 and are being tortured by the police, on suspicions that they were involved in setting fire to a video room owned by Natala villagers, a school teacher from the locality said.

Earlier, last month, some of the video rooms of Natala villagers were reduced to ashes by unknown miscreants. These video rooms were built in the villages of Kadir Bill (Nyaung Chaung), Kiladaung (Du Chee Yar Tan), Gawdu Sara and Mayrulla (Myinn Hlut) of Maungdaw Township. At that time no one was arrested by the authority regarding this matter.

After the event, at about 5:00 am, a group of Nasaka personnel from the camp of Zawmattat of Nasaka area No. 7 of Maungdaw Township went to the spot to investigate the situation.

Later, at about 9:00 am, a group of policemen from Maungdaw town went to the spot and arrested three villagers, including a mother and son because their houses were close to the video room. Police suspected that they were involved in the outbreak of fire, the teacher added.

The victims have been identified as Nur Jahan (47), wife of Md. Hashim, her son Md. Ayub (20) and Noor Mohammed (50), son of Habibur Rahman. All of them belong to Sarcombow Village of Maungdaw Township, a close relative of Nur Jahan said.

The victims are being tortured severely to get confessional statements from them. However, they are still in police custody, but no case was filed against them and they were not even produced in court.

The video room was set on fire on that day at about 3:25 am by unknown miscreants. Its owner is U Wachay, belonging to the Rakhine community, who settled in Maungdaw Township since 1992, invited by the concerned authority from Bangladesh, a villager of the locality said.

Most of the villagers believe that some of the concerned authorities deliberately did this to get ways to harass and extort money from the Rohingya community, a trader from Maungdaw town said.

A village elder said, “We are like the fish under the knife. In such a situation, we don’t dare to do anything against the military junta as they will harass the Rohingya community and they will give us severe punishment.”

However, police believe that some of the Madrassa students of Sarcombow Madrassa and some of the organized youths set fire to the said video room. The Madrassa is close to the video room, an aide from the Maungdaw police station said.

Police demanded Kyat 900,000 for their release on bail. But, the arrestees did not give the money because they were not guilty and after getting bail, the police will call them to their police station frequently to ask for money.

Some of the Natala villagers fled to the plains from their isolated areas and built some shops such as---betel shops, wine shops, brothel rooms and video rooms along the Maungdaw-Aley Than Kyaw road with the help of Burma’s border security force (Nasaka). Many youths of the Rohingya community were destroyed due to brothels. A youth has to pay Kyat 1,000 to 1,200 per night at a brothel, said a village elder who declined to be named.

The concerned authorities are trying to find new methods so that they can destroy the Rohingya community in northern Arakan economically, educationally, socially and culturally and through religious persecution, said a religious leader from Maungdaw town.

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