unlawful arrest and detention

AUSTRALIA has complained to Myanmar after two Australian journalists investigating media freedoms were arrested and deported from the country, days after much-criticised elections, officials said on Friday.

A foreign affairs spokesman said Australia had raised the matter with senior officials in the military-ruled country, claiming it was not informed of the arrests of its citizens, who were working for public broadcaster ABC.

Villagers have accused township officials of harassment for not supporting Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) candidates in Sunday’s national election, according to an election watchdog group in Maungdaw.

Voters from Buthidaung say they have been threatened by Major Sein Win, commander of the Burma’s border security force in Area 9 because they voted for candidates of the National Democratic Party for Development (NDPD).

Reports of intimidation and arrests in ethnic areas during Burma’s elections

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has received reports of harassment, intimidation, violence and arrests in several of Burma’s ethnic states, during and immediately following the sham elections three days ago.

Reports of intimidation and arrests in ethnic areas during Burma’s elections

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has received reports of harassment, intimidation, violence and arrests in several of Burma’s ethnic states, during and immediately following the sham elections three days ago.

Reports of intimidation and arrests in ethnic areas during Burma’s elections

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has received reports of harassment, intimidation, violence and arrests in several of Burma’s ethnic states, during and immediately following the sham elections three days ago.

An organizer for the National Democratic Party for Development (NDPD) said election officials and candidates of the junta-backed USDP forcibly removed opposition officials from polling stations where they were to serve as monitors.

Authorities also reportedly arrested NDPD candidate Khin Maung Myint, also known as Enayet Ullah, on interfering in a polling booth to object to USDP’s rigging.

“He is still in custody in Maungdaw police station,” said an NDPD organizer.

Election Commission officials and township authorities in Maungdaw admitted today that the National Democratic Party for Development (NDPD) swept to victory in Sunday’s national election, according to an official at the Election Commission office.

“The NDPD won in 90 village tracts out of 105 in Maungdaw, but this has not officially been announced yet,” the official said.

“We worked very hard for the Union Solidarity and Development Party to win in northern Arakan State, but we were not successful.”

Two Burmese journalists were reportedly arrested in South Okkalapa, Rangoon, 8pm 7 November. They are believed to work for True News Journal and were apparently arrested because they were taking photos of election activities.

Updates: Toru Matsumoto has been released

The Japanese journalist arrested in eastern Burma on 7 November and released two days later has spoken of his ordeal, which included a threat of a seven-year prison sentence.

Toru Yamaji was released on Sunday evening from a police station in Myawaddy, having been arrested that morning for sneaking into Burma to cover the elections. He told his news agency, the Tokyo-based APF, that he had crossed the Moei river, separating Thailand from Burma, on an inflated inner-tube of a tyre.