NLD lawmaker Daw Thet Htar Hnoung, secretary of the NLD’s Kachin State Women Working Committee. (Photo: NLD)
Myanmar’s junta sentenced ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker Daw Thet Htar Hnoung to a further 11 years in prison on Thursday under the Counter-Terrorism Law.
Daw Thet Htar Hnoung, who represented Mohnyin Township in Kachin State and was secretary of the NLD’s Kachin State Women Working Committee, was first arrested on August 4, 2021. She was sentenced to one year in jail on an incitement charge by a court in the Kachin capital Myitkyina in May 2022.
“The military council illegally arrested Daw Thet Htar Hnoung and gave her an unjust punishment,” said Daw Thandar, the information officer for the NLD’s Central Women Working Committee.
She added that the NLD lawmaker is just one of many people in Myanmar to have been illegally arrested, jailed or killed.
“I believe that Daw Thet Htar Hnoung will be able to face it [the 11 years in jail] because she is strong-minded and courageous,” Daw Thandar told The Irrawaddy.
Some 1,232 NLD members, including 80 former MP’s, have been arrested by the military regime since the February 2021 coup. At least 84 NLD members, including two former MP’s, have died while being detained, according to the NLD.
Daw Thandar noted that other members of the NLD’s women working committee have also been arrested.
Since the coup, the junta has arrested at least 134 female members of the NLD, many of whom are still being detained and who face numerous charges, according to rights group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) which monitors killings and arrests since the military takeover.
Among them are ousted State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is also the chairperson of the NLD, Karen State Chief Minister Nan Khin Htwe Myint and a number of other former ministers and elected lawmakers.
Over 20,934 people have been arrested since the coup and 17,067 remain in detention, according to the AAPP.
