Burmese Film Actor and His Wife Arrested

The popular Burmese film actor Kyaw Thu and his wife Myint Myint Khin Pe were arrested on Tuesday night after the authorities discovered their Rangoon hiding place.

Win Naing, Zarganar and Kyaw Thu offered alms to the monks during last month demonstrations [Photo: The Irrawaddy]

The couple had been in hiding after eluding security forces who cracked down on celebrities who supported monks in their protest demonstrations last month. Earlier reports—not, however, carried by The Irrawaddy—had suggested that Kyaw Thu had managed to escape to Thailand

He and several other well known Burmese personalities sparked government anger by taking food and water to protesting monks at Shwedagon pagoda. The popular comedian Zarganar was arrested, but Kyaw Thu and his wife managed to escape.

"We are Buddhist. All Buddhists have to support this movement," Kyaw Thu said during the peaceful demonstrations.

Kyaw Thu is a respected human rights activist as well as a very popular actor. He is vice-president of the Free Funeral Services Society, a social welfare organization founded in Rangoon in 2001with the aim of helping people who cannot afford funerals for their family members. It now has chapters throughout the country.

"When I became involved with the funerals, I discovered that some actresses didn’t want to act with me and some movie producers didn’t want me to act for them," Kyaw Thu once said in an interview with The Irrawaddy.

In August 2006, a military-backed civilian group, the Union Solidarity and Development Association, threatened to take over the organization after Kyaw Thu and its Secretary-1, Than Myint Aung, attended commemorations of the 18th anniversary of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising.

The society managed to retain its independence, but the military crackdown and now the arrest of Kyaw Thu have totally disrupted its work and its existence is in question.

A non-profit, non-governmental and apolitical group, the society relied on donations from individuals inside and outside Burma for its operation costs. Most donations come from Burmese people living in Japan, Taiwan, the US and the UK.