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25-08-2022
NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar’s military authorities have detained the United Kingdom’s former ambassador to the country, according to anonymous sources quoted by news agencies.
Vicky Bowman, who currently runs the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB), and her husband, Htein Lin, a Burmese artist and former political prisoner, were reportedly detained on Wednesday in Yangon, four sources told the Reuters and AFP news agencies.
There was no immediate comment from Myanmar’s military, which seized power in February 2021, on the reports.
Bowman, 56, served as ambassador to Myanmar from 2002 to 2006 and has more than 30 years of experience in the country.
Her husband Htein Lin, 55, is one of Myanmar’s most famous artists and a veteran activist who spent more than six years between 1998 and 2004 in prison for his opposition to an earlier military rule.
A spokesperson for the UK’s embassy in the country said they were “concerned by the arrest of a British woman in Myanmar”, without mentioning Bowman by name.
“We are in contact with the local authorities and are providing consular assistance,” the spokesperson said.
Reports of Bowman’s arrest came as the UK announced on Thursday that it was imposing a new round of sanctions in support of the Southeast Asian country’s Rohingya community, targeting military-linked businesses in Myanmar in an effort to limit the military’s access to arms and revenue.
“We continue to stand in solidarity with the Rohingya people and condemn the Myanmar Armed Forces’ horrific campaign of ethnic cleansing,” Amanda Milling, the UK government’s Asia minister, said in a statement.
Political chaos
Tony Cheng, reporting from Bangkok, said there had seemingly been an attempt by “people close” to Bowman to try and keep news of her detention “out of the media’s hands” at first.
“There were strong attempts made to try and clear this up quickly. There was a belief, I think initially, that this might have been a misunderstanding but the fact that this news has been 
released, I think, is an indication that she is going to face serious charges,” said Cheng, who has reported extensively on Myanmar.
He noted that the charges levelled against Bowman, a fluent Burmese speaker, were believed to be “immigration-related”.
“There has been no confirmation of where she is being held, although I think the assumption is now is that she is probably in Insein Prison, the largest prison in Yangon, where the most high-profile prisoners are detained,” Cheng said.
Myanmar has been in political and economic chaos since last year’s coup. The military’s seizure of power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government triggered peaceful protests that soon escalated to armed resistance and then to widespread fighting that some UN experts characterise as a civil war.
Since the coup took place, more than 15,000 people have been arrested, 12,119 of whom remain in 
detention, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a non-governmental organisation that tracks killing and arrests. The generals claim that figure is exaggerated.
Cheng described Bowmen’s arrest and other recent developments in Myanmar including the execution of four political prisoners in July and a bitter row with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc as a “very disturbing escalation” of the situation there.
“I think what we are seeing is the military junta pushing back very hard on any suggestion that they are going to negotiate for peace in their country and that they really don’t care about international opinion at this stage,” Cheng said. (Reuters + AFP)
