In a statement, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the Myanmar junta authorities announced last Friday that they were detaining activist Thuzar Maung, along with her husband and three children.
“The Malaysian authorities should publicly press Myanmar’s junta to free Thuzar and her family and investigate how this prominent refugee ended up in Myanmar,” said HRW Asia director Elaine Pearson.
“The Malaysian government is failing to protect refugees at risk, including children. The role of Myanmar’s junta, and possibly other governments, needs to be fully explored and brought to light,” she said.
HRW said the junta revealed that Thuzar, 48, and her family members were arrested for “illegally reentering” Myanmar and that an arrest warrant had been issued for her under Myanmar’s counterterrorism law in January 2023.
The junta reported that the Myittha Township Court in Mandalay had issued an arrest warrant for Thuzar for providing support to the opposition National Unity Government, which it has declared as a “terrorist organisation”.
The watchdog urged Malaysian authorities to promptly reopen their probe into the alleged abduction of Thuzar and her family from their home, saying the incident could constitute transnational repression — a cross-border human rights violation targeting a nation’s citizens.
It added that Asean member states at the coming 47th summit should urge Malaysia to reopen investigations into Thuzar’s disappearance.
“Asean as a bloc should ensure that regional instruments enshrine the rights of refugees, dissidents, activists and other targets of transnational repression.
“Refugees like Thuzar and her family should be safe from harm. Malaysia and other countries need to act to deter further efforts by the junta to abduct and disappear Myanmar refugees.”
In September 2023, Bukit Aman criminal investigation department director Shuhaily Zain said police were not ruling out the possibility that Thuzar and her family fled their home willingly and were not abducted as claimed by certain parties.
He said CCTV footage showed the family entering a car voluntarily.
Despite this, he assured the public, especially the Myanmar community, that the police were still probing the case as a “missing persons” inquiry.
Thuzar was reported to have fled Myanmar for Malaysia in 2015.