U Aye Maung, a prominent Rakhine politician, and writer U Wai Hin Aung have been sentenced to more than 20 years imprisonment each for high treason. The charge happened after a speech they gave in their home state early last year. A court in Sittwe, the Rakhine State capital, sentenced the pair under section 505(b) of the Penal Code. They are expected to serve their sentence in Sittwe Prison. Analysts have warned that the harsh sentence could heighten tensions in the already fraught state, particularly given recent renewed fighting between the Myanmar Army and the Arakan Army there. “Rakhine people are angry about the case,” Daw Aye Nu Sein, Wai Hin Aung’s lawyer, was quoted as saying by Frontier. “They were just talking about current affairs in line with freedom of expression. It doesn’t make sense,” she said. At the speech, which took place in January 2018 in Buthidaung Township, Aye Maung reportedly accused the government of treating the Rakhine people like “slaves”. The duo were then barred from travelling to Mrauk-U, once the capital of the Arakan Empire, leading to a demonstration in which seven people were shot dead by police.
