A man and woman in Kyaukphyu who were detained on suspicion of raising funds for the Arakan Army (AA) have been charged with incitement under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code.

Lieutenant Ye Thet Zaw from a Kyaukphyu-based military battalion on Friday filed a lawsuit against the pair at the township court, and the plaintiff will be questioned at a hearing on June 23, a lawyer with Legal Remedy Group (Kyaukphyu branch) told DMG.

“We submitted the power of attorney to the court to represent the defendants,” the lawyer added.

U Than Hlaing, 41, and Daw Khin Ohn Ngwe, 56, from Ceditaung ward in Kyaukphyu, were taken into custody by security personnel from the military’s Light Infantry Battalion No. 34 on May 26, and are currently being held at Kyaukphyu Myoma police station.

Both of the accused suffer from health problems and their families are worried that their health conditions will worsen while they are behind bars.

“My mother is on medication for asthma. Family members are worried that her health will worsen while she is in custody,” Ma Mra Ngwe, the daughter of Daw Khin Ohn Ngwe, told DMG.

Ma Cho Cho Thein, the wife of U Than Hlaing, said her husband is a sidecar driver and suffers from the aftereffects of an injury he sustained in a motorbike accident.

“He had an injury to his head in a motorbike accident. He saw a doctor at a clinic due to his injury. He sometimes loses consciousness because of his head injury. I want him released as soon as possible because he is the breadwinner in my family,” she added.

The duo were reportedly detained while collecting money for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State.

Carrying a penalty of up to three years in prison, the Penal Code’s Section 505(a) criminalises making, publishing, or sharing “any statement, rumour or report” that encourages a member of the military “to mutiny or otherwise disregard or fail in his duty.”

Arrests on AA-related pretences have been on the rise in recent weeks.

U Maung Me Kyawt, a 57-year-old resident of Paletwa, Chin State, was detained by the Myanmar military on June 4. The military also arrested the administrator of Paletwa’s Abaung Thar village and two of the village’s 10-household heads on May 26, with the two lower-level administrators subsequently released.

The May 26 arrests came the same day that fighting broke out between the military and Arakan Army (AA) in Paletwa Township.

The Arakan Army has warned that fighting could erupt at any time due to ongoing tensions with the military regime.