Prominent Baptist pastor in military-ruled Myanmar detained again hours after release from prison

BANGKOK (AP) — A prominent Christian church leader and human rights advocate from Myanmar’s Kachin ethnic minority was detained by the authorities just hours after he was released from prison under an amnesty by the military government, a relative, a colleague and local media said Thursday.

The Rev. Hkalam Samson, former head of the Kachin Baptist Convention and chairman of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly, was among the 3,300 prisoners released nationwide on Wednesday to mark the traditional Thingyan New Year holiday. The assembly is an umbrella organization uniting religious and civil society groups with political organizations promoting Kachin rights, including autonomy from Myanmar’s central government.

Kachin state, in northern Myanmar, has been the scene of intermittent warfare for decades between the army and well-organized and -armed Kachin guerrillas.

Samson had been warmly welcomed by family and friends outside the gate of the prison in the Kachin state capital, Myitkyina, when he was released early Wednesday afternoon.

At around 10 p.m. Wednesday night, however, security forces and officials came to his home in the city and took him away, said one of his relatives, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she feared arrest by the authorities.

She said members of his family were told by the authorities that they were taking him temporarily for his safety. She added that his family, friends and members of other local Christian communities were seeking updated information and to get him released.

A member of the Kachin Baptist Convention told The Associated Press that Samson’s wife, Zung Nyaw, and a member of the Kachin-based Peace-talk Creation Group were taken together with him to Myitkyina prison,