Father and son jailed

October 16, Narinjara News

U Indri Ya, a 23-year-old monk, was arrested from Myo Ma monastery in
Maungdaw in Arakan state, Burma on September 29 for leading the recent
protests by monks. He is now facing charges in the Maungdaw district
court, said a relative.

Relatives of the young monk were not allowed to attend any of the hearings
or examine the authority's case against him because the judge held court
inside the police lockup rather than in a courtroom, the relative added.

The family of the monk has not received a legal suit for his case in the
Maungdaw courts.

The Maungdaw police prosecuted him under a section of Act 6, 143, and 505
(Kha) for creating instability and organizing the people in protesting
against the regime, a lawyer in Maungdaw said.

U Indri Ya was forced by authorities to discard the robes of monk hood
after his arrest. He was arrested in Maungdaw when he was trying to flee
to Bangladesh.

U Indri Ya was living at the Sita Thukha monastery in Sittwe and many
monks from the monastery were involved in leading the recent protests in
the city.

U Indri Ya's father U Aung Ban Tha, was also arrested for working with the
National League for Democracy two years ago.

Aung Ban Than is the General Secretary of the Sittwe Township NLD and is
currently in Sittwe prison after he was sentenced to a long prison tern
for refusing to resign from the NLD at the government's behest.

A rumor is doing the rounds in Maungdaw that the authorities may sentence
the young monk to a long jail term as he is the son of U Aung Ban Tha, a
senior member of the NLD in Arakan State.