Fifty-two people from nine townships in Arakan and Chin states have faced legal action for protesting an internet ban in the region since June 2019, the activist group Athan said on October 1 as it rolled out a report analysing the state of free expression in Myanmar. 

A rice mill owner from Ponnagyun Township, Arakan State, who was arrested for allegedly storing rice for the Arakan Army, was charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law by a court in Sittwe on October 1, according to family members of the accused. 

Muslim students sheltering at a refugee camp in Bangladesh have donated K500,000 to internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State. 

The Myanmar Press Council (MPC) issued a press release on September 29 saying it had asked the government for a third time to include members of the news media among those exempted from coronavirus stay-at-come orders issued by the Ministry of Health and Sports.  

Anxieties are running high among locals in Ann Township, Arakan State, after two unidentified corpses with their hands bound were found along area waterways in recent days. 

A resident of Kyaukgusu village in Kyauktaw Township who was arrested by security personnel over the weekend was transferred to Kyauktaw’s Myoma police station on September 29, according to family members of the detainee.

The Arakan Front Party (AFP) will not be taking part in a programme allowing political parties to use state-owned media to communicate their platforms and other election-related messaging, with party officials saying the AFP speech was subjected to censorship. 

Two men arrested by the Tatmadaw last week in Chin State have been charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law for alleged ties to the Arakan Army, according to the Paletwa Township police. 

The Tatmadaw has announced that it will extend its unilateral ceasefire by another month, through October 31, but the military is holding steadfastly to a caveat that exempts “areas where terrorist groups declared by the government take positions.” 

A motorbike driver from Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township who died this week in Tatmadaw custody has been accused by that same military of snatching a soldier’s gun and fatally shooting himself. 

The Myanmar Journalist Network (MJN) on September 27 urged the government to lift coronavirus stay-at-home orders affecting news organisations at a time, the network contends, when an unrestrained fourth estate is more important than ever. 

Though trust is essential in ongoing peace talks, it is impossible to build trust so long as ethnic armed groups negotiate while holding on to notions of “armed struggle,” according to Major-General Zaw Min Tun of the Tatmadaw True News Information Team.   

A resident of Kyaukgusu village in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township was taken from his home and detained by security personnel on September 27, family members said.

The body of a Mrauk-U Township resident recently detained by the military was viewed at the local hospital a day after he was taken into Tatmadaw custody, according to his family members.  

The Tatmadaw has not made arbitrary arrests of locals in northern Arakan State villages where hostilities between the military and the Arakan Army (AA) are ongoing, Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun of the Tatmadaw True News Information Team said at a press conference on September 26.

A three-wheeled motorbike driver from Mrauk-U Township, Arakan State, was arrested by the military at about 8 a.m. on September 27, according to a lawmaker and family members of the detainee.

Camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in conflict-wracked Arakan State are at risk of rice shortages as provisions of the staple grain expected from the government have not arrived in recent weeks, according to camp managers.

The number of medical staff infected with COVID-19 since an upsurge in Arakan State cases began in mid-August and through September 25 stood at almost 70, according to the Arakan State Public Health Department.

The owner of the Myint Myat Maung private boarding school in Sittwe’s Baukthisu Ward is likely to be prosecuted under the Natural Disaster Management Law for allegedly operating without a permit amid the COVID-19 pandemic.