At around 7:30pm on 14 October, Kachin peace activist Patrick Kum Jaa Lee, 43, was arrested without a warrant at his home in Yangon – Myanmar’s largest city – and taken to Hlaing Township police station. Authorities told him he was arrested for an image he shared on Facebook showing an unidentified person stepping on a photograph of army Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. According to credible sources, he had commented above the post “Don’t share this post – if you do you will be arrested”. His phone and computer were confiscated, and the Facebook post has now been removed. He remains in detention at the police station, and has not been able to meet with a lawyer yet.
In the morning of 15 October, Patrick Kum Jaa Lee’s family and friends were informed by the Hlaing Township Police Chief that he was being investigated under Section 66(d) of Myanmar’s 2013 Telecommunications Act, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison for “extorting, coercing, restraining wrongfully, defaming, disturbing, causing undue influence or threatening to any person by using any Telecommunications Network”. The police also informed them that he would be presented before a court later that day and may be transferred to a nearby prison.