BURMA: POLICE ARREST A FIFTH MP-ELECT

UNCLAS RANGOON 000406 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV, DRL USPACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PINS PGOV BM NLD SUBJECT: BURMA: POLICE ARREST A FIFTH MP-ELECT REF: A. RANGOON 366 ¶B. RANGOON 345 AND PREVIOUS (NOTAL) ¶C. RANGOON 332 AND PREVIOUS ¶1. (SBU) According to the NLD Central Executive Committee (CEC),the police arrested U Saw Hlaing, a MP-elect from Indaw, Sagaing Division, on March 30. He had just returned to his home district after MC'ing the NLD's "Resistance Day" observance on March 27 (ref A). According to the CEC, authorities sent U Saw Hlaing immediately to Katha prison in the remote reaches of northern Sagaing. It is not entirely clear what he is being charged with. However, NLD sources assume that the confiscation of his personal computer indicates a charge under the Press Act or Printing and Publishing Act -- both aimed at censoring publications and both carrying prison sentences. In reality, though, his arrest likely stems from U Saw Hlaing's increasing activism and close ties with the NLD's youth movement (he is in his mid 40s, contrasted with the octogenarian CEC members). ¶2. (SBU) U Saw Hlaing, previously arrested and released following the GOB's attack on Aung San Suu Kyi in May 2003, is the fifth MP-elect arrested in 2005 (ref B). His detention is yet another illustration of the GOB's newly invigorated strategy of rounding up the most active members of the various opposition groups (ref C),while releasing a small handful of political prisoners it sees as no further threat. Martinez