HRA sets record straight
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 29 2023:
Following the publication of a news item under the caption, "Lady arrested from Khwairamband Keithel with Norwegian Passport is a Myanmar based armed militant" published in an eveninger today and which have gone viral on social media, Human Rights Alert (HRA) has clarified that they took up the case only as a "woman in distress case" .
In a statement signed by its executive director Babloo Loitongbam, HRA said that the case of Mya Kyay Mon, a Norwegian citizen of Myanmar origin, was brought to the attention of HRA by the Myanmar language instructor of the Center for Myanmar Studies of Manipur University.
When the matter was brought to the attention of HRA, for the first time, she was already detained at the Imphal Central Jail, it said and added that they do not have any prior contact with her.
HRA took up her case as a "woman in distress case" and informed the relevant section of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in New Delhi and therein after she was issued a fresh Norwegian Passport as her old passport had expired, it added.
Upon her release on bail and not having a place to stay, she contacted HRA , it said and added that they assisted her to stay in a women's home run by an NGO, pending her trial in the Court.
In the wake of the ethnic unrest in Manipur and when the NGO expressed their discomfort in keeping her, HRA organized an air ticket for her to go out of the State, HRA added.
Saying that they have been informed of her summoning by the Court for the pending trial in Manipur, HRA clarified that they have no prior contact with Mya Kyay Mon before meeting her in the jail in Manipur.
HRA does not know her antecedents or background, it said and continued that they only provided legal aids and humanitarian services to her as an organization defending human rights for all.