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YANGON : A popular sports writer who helped deliver aid to victims of the cyclone in Myanmar has been arrested, the second aid volunteer detained in two weeks, his wife told AFP on Monday.
Zaw Thet Htwe, 42, was arrested Friday by special branch police in the central town of Minbu, where he was visiting his ailing mother, his wife said.
He had organised five trips to deliver aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis in the devastated Irrawaddy Delta, but police said that was not the reason for his arrest, his wife Khaing Cho said.
No reason was given for his detention, she said, adding that police had searched their home in Yangon and seized his computer and cell phone.
"We went to his mother's home in Minbu because she had a stroke," Khaing Cho said.
"I cannot imagine what they suspect him of doing. He is only interested in his career, because we have to provide for our 14-month-old baby," she said.
"I hope he will come back soon."
The week before Zaw Thet Htwe's arrest, Myanmar detained the country's most famous comedian, Zaganar, who had also been delivering aid to cyclone victims.
Cyclone Nargis left more than 133,000 dead or missing when it struck Myanmar six weeks ago, with 2.4 million people in need of humanitarian aid.
The international relief effort has been hampered by restrictions imposed by the military government, but private donors have tried to fill the gap, creating their own grassroots networks to bring desperately need food and other supplies.
Zaw Thet Htwe had previously been arrested in July 2003, after publishing a story questioning how authorities were spending a four-million-dollar grant meant to develop football in Myanmar.
He had been sentenced to death after authorities charged him with treason over claims that he had plotted to overthrow the government. The Supreme Court commuted his sentence and he was released after 18 months.
- AFP/ir
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