UPDATE: Burmese junta releases statement on charges for former UK ambassador

UPDATE

The Burmese junta said in a statement yesterday that it has charged a former UK ambassador to the country with immigration offenses. This news comes after anonymous sources reported yesterday that the former ambassador Vicky Bowman and her husband had been detained in Yangon.

Local media reports that the two had been detained on Wednesday night, and are being held in the city’s Insein Prison. In its statement, the junta government claims that the address Bowman had registered to her visa didn’t match her residence. Breaching Myanmar’s Immigration Act can result in a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Bowman and her husband, Htein Lin, were arrested just as the UK announced sanctions against businesses linked to Myanmar’s junta due to its violent ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya minority.

Bowman is the director of the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business. She served as the UK’s ambassador to Myanmar from 2002-2006. Htein Lin is a Burmese artist and former political prisoner.

ORIGINAL STORY

The former UK ambassador to Myanmar and her husband have been detained in Yangon, two anonymous sources reported today. A spokesperson for the Burmese junta did not answer calls from Reuters seeking comment on the situation.

A British embassy spokesperson has said the embassy is concerned about the arrest.

She said…

“We are in contact with the local authorities and are providing consular assistance.”

It is not yet clear what charges the former ambassador and her husband have been held on.

The former ambassador, Vicky Bowman, is the director of the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business. She served as the UK’s ambassador to Myanmar from 2002-2006. Her husband, Htein Lin, is a Burmese artist and former political prisoner. The news of this arrest comes just as the UK government has announced new sanctions on Myanmar due to its violent ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya minority.

Myanmar’s junta government, which came to power through a coup in February 2021, has faced multiple accusations of human rights abuses and war crimes. The government is notorious for torturing and imprisoning ethnic minorities.

Last month, in the first executions in Myanmar in decades, the military junta killed four democracy activists they accused of terrorist activities. Also last month, a Japanese documentary producer was imprisoned with two protesters after joining an anti-government protest in Yangon.

The world now waits for details on the detainment of Bowman and Lin to emerge.

SOURCE: CNN | Reuters | Sky News | UK government press release