Political prisoner and blogger, 22 year-old Kaung Myat Hlaing, arrested last year, has been handed a further 10-year prison sentence under the Electronics Act, on top of his 2-year sentence, after the authorities discovered that he had been involved in campaigns calling for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners.
Last month, Kaung Myat Hlaingwas taken from his prison cell and interrogated and tortured until he confessed to being involved in ‘anti-government’ campaigns and being a member of the group Best Fertilizer, who have organized a number of campaigns in the past. Best Fertilizer is an underground activist group. Following the 2007 Uprising, Kaung Myat Hlaing began to blog under the name of Nat Soe (‘dark angel’) and authorities have been looking for a reason to imprison him ever since.
He was initially arrested in April 2010 and falsely accused of being involved in the April 15th Water Festival bombings which killed 10 people and injured 168. He was charged under section 505/b of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment. The new charges under the Electronics Act were handed to him in a closed court in Insein prison. He will now be serving a 12 year term.
2011.02.04 AAPP-B