HIV/AIDS Patients and Volunteers arrested in Burma
August 13, 2006
First attempt of a group of HIV/AIDS infected persons and volunteers, named themselves as "Friends with Red Ribbon"; to communicate with the larger society was ended with arrest and harassment by Burmese military regime on August 12, 2006. Red Ribbon is international symbol of HIV/AIDS.
These patients were planning to hold a Buddhist traditional merit making service for their friends who passed away with HIV/AIDS. As permitted by senior Monks from Maggin Buddhist Monastery in Thingangyun Township, Rangoon, they prepared to make a merit making ceremony on August 12, 2006, with the support of many friends, who are working to campaign for the awareness of this dangerous disease and educating people not to isolate these patients. On the night of August 11, 2006, many volunteers, including these patients gathered at Maggin Monastery and began to cook food for tomorrow event. Suddenly, Chairman and Secretary of Township Authority and members of USDA, about 100 people, came to the Monastery and asked the Monks for a parallel event tomorrow at the same time.
As they had to cook all night and to offer food to Buddhist Monks in the early morning of August 12, 2006, they had to stay at the Monastery overnight. They went to local authority office to report their overnight stay, but office was closed. Then, they met with Secretary of Township Authority at the Monastery and informed him about this and they were told to provide the list of those who would stay overnight. Therefore, they gave him a list of 11 persons, ten of them are volunteers and one is an AIDS patient. Later, Chairman of Local Authority came to the Monastery and they reported him directly about their overnight stay at the Monastery.
At 1:00 AM, authority asked their people, about 100, to leave the Monastery. Ten minutes later, local authority, USDA members and police raided the Monastery and arrested 11 persons, who were in the list. They were brought to Thingangyun Township Police Station and locked up there. They are charged that they failed to report their overnight stay.
Senior Monks from the Monastery were also summoned to Township Sanghas (Monks) Association and warned not to hold any event at the Monastery.
Next morning, when invited guests and over 30 HIV/AIDS patients arrived at the Monastery, they found unfinished food, unprepared event and friends missing. They tried to make that event summarily and then they went to Police Station to find their friends. As news spread around, hundreds of people came to the Police Station to meet with these 11 persons. Police are afraid of massive arrival at the Police Station and then they sent these 11 to three different police stations. Now, four of them are in Daw Pone Township Police Station, another four are in Pazungdaung Township Police Station and three are in Yankin Township Police Station. Their names are Than Naing, Yar Zar, Shwe Joe, Aye Naing, Au Bar, Mone naing, Kan Myint, Myo Thant, Soe Naing, Than Htut and Than Htike Aung.
Friends with Red Ribbon is comprised with 52 persons, most of them are AIDS patients and the rest are volunteers, who are trying to educate the society to warmly and kindly encourage these patients with kind heart instead of isolating them. This is their first attempt to make these patients, who are physically infected by this disease and mentally destroyed by their moral insecurity and depression, to be welcomed and encouraged by the larger society. But, Chairman of District Authority, Lt. Colonel Maung Maung Shein is aggressively against that kind of activities and these patients. He has threatened all volunteers and participants. He even threatened to shut down Tha Zin Clinic, established by an International NGO, AZG/ MSF (Holland).
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