YANGON: Myanmar’s military said Wednesday it arrested a man who sent anti-election messages in a private Facebook chat, wielding laws that rights groups say curb personal liberties to crush dissent.
The junta snatched power in a 2021 coup which plunged Myanmar into a many-sided civil war, but it promises that polls starting in late December will move the country toward peace and democracy.
Deposed lawmakers excluded from the vote, human rights monitors and guerilla rebels opposing the junta have dismissed the election as a charade to disguise continuing military rule.
Ahead of the poll the military government introduced broad new legislation including clauses punishing protesting or criticizing the election with up to a decade in prison.
A junta statement said 58-year-old Khaing Soe from Bogyoke village near Yangon was arrested under the law on Friday.
He “was exposed and arrested for writing texts on Messenger using his ‘Khaing Soe’ Facebook Account with the intent to frustrate election processes and mislead the public,” it said.
The statement provided few details about the alleged offense, including how authorities may have accessed his messages on the private Facebook Messenger app.
“Action is being taken to ensure he receives an effective penalty,” it said.
Two other men were also arrested — one for a Facebook post and one for vandalizing an election billboard — while 11 other cases were opened against groups or individuals, the statement added.
The junta has opened more than 100 cases under the election disruption law, according to an AFP tally.
However some are targeting rebel fighters operating beyond the military’s reach.
UN rights office spokesman Jeremy Laurence warned last week that “the military has stepped up mass electronic surveillance to identify dissidents” ahead of the widely criticized election.
Myanmar has historically been ruled by the military, but enjoyed a decade-long democratic thaw starting in 2010 that saw Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi become an elected figurehead.
She was toppled and has been sequestered in jail since the February 2021 putsch.
Her party has been dissolved and will not appear on ballots when voting begins on December 28 in a phased election expected to last around one month.
Myanmar junta says arrested man for anti-election Facebook chat
https://arab.news/r839c
Myanmar junta says arrested man for anti-election Facebook chat
- Myanmar’s military wields laws that rights groups say curb personal liberties to crush dissent
- The junta snatched power in a 2021 coup which plunged Myanmar into a many-sided civil war
35 million Nigerians ‘risk hunger after global funding collapse’
- The UN can only aim to deliver $516 million to provide lifesaving aid to 2.5 million people this year, down from 3.6 million in 2025, which in turn was about half the previous year’s level
ABUJA: Nearly 35 million Nigerians are at risk of hunger this year, including 3 million children facing severe malnutrition, the UN said, following the collapse of global aid budgets.
Speaking at the launch of the 2026 humanitarian plan in Abuja, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mohammed Malick Fall said the long-dominant, foreign-led aid model in Nigeria is no longer sustainable and that Nigeria’s needs have grown.
Conditions in the conflict-hit northeast are dire, Fall said, with civilians in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states facing rising violence.
BACKGROUND
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mohammed Malick Fall said the foreign-led aid model in Nigeria is no longer sustainable and that the country’s needs have grown.
A surge in terror attacks killed more than 4,000 people in the first eight months of 2025, matching the toll for all of 2023, he said.
The UN can only aim to deliver $516 million to provide lifesaving aid to 2.5 million people this year, down from 3.6 million in 2025, which in turn was about half the previous year’s level.
“These are not statistics. These numbers represent lives, futures, and Nigerians,” Fall said.
He also said the UN had no choice but to focus on “the most lifesaving” interventions given the drop in available funding.
Shortfalls last year led the World Food Programme to also warn that millions could go hungry in Nigeria as its resources ran out in December and it was forced to cut support for more than 300,000 children.
Fall said Nigeria was showing growing national ownership of the crisis response in recent months through measures such as local funding for lean-season food support and early-warning action on flooding.
