BANGKOK — Concerns were growing Friday that two nonviolent activists opposed to military rule in Myanmar could be tortured after their arrest in raids in Yangon this week.

Paing Phyo Min, 27, a leading member of the Anti-Junta Alliance of Yangon (AJAY), and Shein Wai Aung, a participant in peaceful protests, were arrested separately on Wednesday evening, said Nan Lin, one of the leaders of the alliance, to The Associated. Press (AP).

COURAGE UNDER FIRE Pro-democracy demonstrators hold torches and flags during a flash mob rally to protest against Myanmar’s junta in the central city of Yangon September 19, 2024. PHOTO BY THE ANTI-JUNTA ALLIANCE YANGON VIA AP

He said four other young activists were arrested just hours after participating in a brief September 19 protest in Myanmar’s largest city against high commodity prices and military conscription.

Nan Lin and statements from activist groups in Yangon said the four were Zaw Lin Htut, also known as Poe Thar, co-founder of the University Students’ Union Alumni Force and independent photojournalist ; Aung Min Khaing and Mya Myintzu, members of the Youth Strike Committee; and Hnin Ei Khaing, a former political prisoner.

The arrests are a reminder that even as the junta engages in armed combat against pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic rebels in the countryside and remote areas, it also seeks to stifle political opposition in main urban areas.

Nan Lin said he feared the arrested protesters were at high risk of being tortured by interrogators. Paing Phyo Min and Shein Wai Aung, he added, were sent to an interrogation center and there was no contact with any of the detainees.

Rights groups and media outlets, including AP, have widely reported on the tortured detainees.

On its Facebook page on Thursday, AJAY called on the international community and Myanmar strike committees to pressure the military government to protect detained protesters, expressing particular concern for Paing Phyo Min.

Paing Phyo Min is known for his involvement in a youth group performing Thangyat, a traditional Burmese art form in which participants perform poetry and satirical songs.

He was arrested in 2019 with three others after participating in Thangyat shows dressed as soldiers. He was sentenced to six years in prison for sedition but was released in April 2021 as part of a mass amnesty.

Nonviolent demonstrations were the main form of protest immediately after the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, 2021. After security forces suppressed them with deadly force, many opponents of the military have launched armed resistance, and much of the Southeast Asian country is now involved in fighting.

“The protests in Myanmar today are not the same as before the coup. Anyone involved in any form of dissent against the military risks long prison sentences, torture and other ill-treatment, or even death in custody,” said Joe Freeman, Myanmar Researcher for the human rights group Amnesty International.

“In Myanmar’s prison system, there is little hope of fair treatment, no transparency and extremely poor conditions. The interrogation centers, where these two activists were likely sent, are also notorious sites of abuse where torture has been used to extract information before charges. are formally presented,” he added.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which records arrests and deaths, at least 5,800 people have been killed and 27,529 people have been arrested by security forces since the military took power.

After the crackdown on street protests in 2021, demonstrations have become fewer in number and usually take the form of flash mobs.