Models Detained by Myanmar Junta Fear Sexual Exploitation: Rights Activists

By The Irrawaddy 11 August 2022

Myanmar ladies’s rights activists are nervous that two well-known fashions ­– Thinzar Wint Kyaw and Nang Mwe San ­– detained by the army regime final week will likely be sexually abused by junta personnel.

The regime introduced on August 5 that it has detained and charged the 2 fashions with harming tradition and dignity for sharing provocative photographs and clips to video-hosting platforms that cost customers.

Ma Thinzar Shunlei Yi, a member of girls’s rights group Sisters 2 Sisters, mentioned: “We’re very involved about their detention. As they’re well-known fashions, nobody can say that junta troopers is not going to sexually exploit the 2 ladies. By arresting them, the regime confirmed its want to manage ladies.”

Each ladies face prices underneath the Digital Transactions Regulation, which carries a possible penalty of seven to fifteen years in jail.

Ladies’s rights activists consider that the army regime has overstepped the bounds of legislation by arresting the 2 fashions.

Daw Tin Tin Nyo, an advisor to the Burmese Ladies’s Union (BWU), mentioned: “Their actions trigger hurt to nobody. They don’t seem to be committing against the law and to allow them to’t be charged or prosecuted. They’re simply displaying their very own our bodies by means of official channels, which doesn’t quantity to against the law. It’s a type of leisure. No authorities owns their our bodies or could make selections on their behalf.”

Thinzar Wint Kyaw was detained briefly by the regime final month after travelling to Shan State to attend the marriage of the daughter of the Shan State Progress Occasion (SSPP) spokesperson. Tensions are working excessive between the SSPP and the junta, even if coup chief Senior Basic Min Aung Hlaing met SSPP leaders not too long ago. Accusing Thinzar Wint Kyaw of harming tradition and dignity is simply an excuse to detain her, mentioned observers.

Nang Mwe San had her passport seized by the regime when she went to resume it not too long ago. The regime didn’t make clear the explanation why it was seized.

In March final 12 months, a month after the coup, Nang Mwe San, who skilled as a physician, posted a clip on social media during which she talked in English concerning the Myanmar army’s crackdown on anti-coup protesters and its crimes towards the Rohingya ethnic minority.

“As you all know, they’re killing many harmless people who find themselves protesting peacefully in Myanmar,” the mannequin mentioned within the video.

Many individuals consider that the clip is the actual purpose she has been detained.

Observers have additionally famous that the regime has not detained different fashions who assist the army or keep away from criticism of the regime, even when they pose in related vogue to Thinzar Wint Kyaw and Nang Mwe San.

Daw Tin Tin Nyo of the BWU mentioned: “What do they [the regime] imply by calling it ‘harming Myanmar tradition’? They’ve stunning our bodies they usually reveal them for the aim of leisure. It’s their proper and we are able to’t management that.”

Not less than 241 ladies have died by the hands of the junta because the coup, whereas some 2,372 have been detained, in accordance with the BWU.