In an email to the Baptist Standard received late evening on April 24, Ah Le Lakang reported Hkalam Samson continues to be detained in a guest house at the prison compound. He wrote: “His family members can visit and have meals together. His relatives are allowed to speak with him on the prison grounds. His attorney can speak with him but has yet to be in person. He is still being held for questioning. The spokesperson, Zaw Min Thun, the Burmese Military, told BBC Burmese that Dr. Samson was called back for the peace-building process. PCG leader Lamai Gum Ja is still with Dr. Samson. He can go home and come stay with Dr. Samson anytime.”
A Kachin Baptist leader in Myanmar who briefly was released from prison last week after 16 months behind bars was taken into custody again by authorities and continued to be detained a week later.
Hkalam Samson, former president of the Kachin Baptist Convention, was released from Myitkyina Prison on April 17 as part of an amnesty marking the end of the Thingyan New Year festival in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
Hours later, authorities arrived at Samson’s home to take him into custody.
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“It was a Gethsemane moment for many of us,” said Roy Medley, executive director of the Burma Advocacy Group and general secretary emeritus of the American Baptist Churches USA.
Samson’s wife, Zung Nyaw, initially was allowed to accompany him, and a member of the Kachin Peace-Talk Creation Group also was taken into custody at the same time.
As of April 24, Samson — chairman of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly and critic of human rights abuses by the ruling Burmese military — still was detained for questioning at a house on the grounds of Myitkyina Prison.
Ah Le Lakang, general secretary of the Kachin Baptist Convention USA, reported April 18 Zung Nyaw was allowed to leave the prison grounds. At least at that point, she and other family members were permitted to visit Samson.
Initially, Ah Le Lakang said, Samson’s wife said police told them he was being taken into custody for his own security. Later, they said he was being detained for questioning.
‘Grave injustice’
Samson first was arrested on Dec. 5, 2022, at the Mandalay International Airport while attempting to travel to Bangkok for a medical procedure.
He was sentenced last year to six years in prison on charges of unlawful association, defaming the state and terrorism.
At the time, Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Elijah Brown called Samson’s sentence “a grave injustice” and called on churches to pray for an end to his “unjust imprisonment.”
Samson was president of the Kachin Baptist Convention in Myanmar from 2018 to 2022, and he previously served two terms as the convention’s general secretary, from 2010 to 2018.
‘Arbitrary disregard for human rights’
Medley called Samson “a courageous spokesman for religious liberty” who continued to minister to others even during his 16-month imprisonment.
On behalf of the Burma Advocacy Group, Medley contacted Rashad Hussain, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom; Tom Andrews, U.N. Special Rapporteur for Burma; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; and Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In addition to advocating with government officials for Samson’s release, Medley also requested prayer.
“Let us remember in our prayers his wife and family, for this is yet another tragic experience of arbitrary disregard for human rights and the rule of law,” he wrote in an email.
“We must not lose heart, but instead, we must redouble our prayers and efforts for his release and for the release of all in Burma from the shackles of tyranny.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Ken Camp and originally published by Baptist Standard.
