On Tuesday at around 10:30 pm, Ashin Gambira was taken by police for interrogation. After being questioned intensively about his resend trip to Kachin state, he has been released today.
In a phone call he said on Wednesday that the police was treating him good this time. He was questioned about his visit to Kachin state until three in the morning the first night.
On Tuesday Ashin Gambira was able to speak briefly to Ashin Khesara and Ashin Issariya, aka King Zero, notifying them of his situation, while sitting in the car with the police.
Ashin Gambira returned to Rangoon just yesterday. He came back from a trip to Kachin State and a visit to his family home in Meithila, near Mandalay. He was staying at the house of his elder sister Khin Thu Htay in Eastern Dagong Township when a car with four policemen arrived and arrested him. He was told the police needed to ask him some questions, and that he would be returned to his monastery the next morning.
During the phone call, the car was near Sule Pagoda in downtown Rangoon. Three policemen were sitting around him in the back of the car while a fourth officer was driving. Ashin Gambira was still wearing his monks’ robes, and he has not been disrobed.
U Gambira and Ashin Khesara had been in Kachin State to document the situation of the war refugees there. They visited a refugee camp with over 60,000 people. Ashin Gambira donated money to build a well in that camp.
Before this trip, the state-run newspaper “New light of Myanmar” reported that the Sangha Committee had asked for legal action to be taken against Ashin Gambira. When returning back to Rangoon, Ashin Gambira already expected that he could be rearrested, but he refused to be limited by fear.
This was the second time Ashin Gambira has been arrested since his release from prison in January.
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Related posts:
- Ashin Gambira: “Democracy is only a word in the newspaper”
- Ashin Gambira: Human rights violations continue
- Ashin Gambira Rebuilding Meggin Monastery – “We want to see real change”
- Ashin Gambira: “Please try to find a good way to work for the release of all political prisoners”
- Candle Vigil for Ashin Gambira in Mae Sot
- Alarming update on Ashin Gambira’s present condition
- Event: Light a Candle for Ashin Gambira
- Ashin Gambira: Fear
- U Gambira always told me “Every religious person must work to free our country from the military regime.”
- Free Ashin Gambira and all political prisoners now!