After rising tempers due to the heightened ethnic tensions in the region, having been summoned by the police, Dr. Aung actively tried to calm an agitated crowd – only to be arrested later that week by the same people he had agreed to help, and charged with inciting violence.
Initially, when Dr. Aung was taken, his family had no idea of his whereabouts. After a few weeks they learned that he had been taken to a prison 170km from his home. He has remained there since, virtually isolated, with very little communication with a lawyer or his family.
Dr. Aung wasn’t allowed to choose his own lawyers, which diminishes his chances of a fair trial, and the prosecution won an appeal to extend his sentence from 11 to 17 years on the basis that the shorter sentence was ‘too lenient’.
We believe that Dr. Aung has been detained because the authorities were looking for individuals to blame, and was targeted for exactly the same reason he had been asked to help: his position as a Muslim community leader.
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Immediate and unconditional release of doctor Aung Tun
Aung Tun’s access to medicines and proper medical care
