Australian citizen and Suu Kyi's adviser Sean Turnell 'detained' in Myanmar

An Australian economic advisor to Myanmar’s deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi told BCC that he has been detained in the country following the military coup d'état. Sean Turnell, a professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, is the first foreign national to be detained by Myanmar’s military junta as per the media reports. Responding to the same, Australia’s foreign minister Marise Payne has now expressed "serious concerns about an Australian who has been detained at a police station".

As Myanmar’s military has taken steps to undermine country's democratic transition, including the arrest of nation’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and few other civilian officials in Burma, several governments and human rights groups across the globe expressed concern and urged the military to immediately release all those who have been detained unlawfully. The Myanmar Army, on the other hand, has said that it carried out the detentions in response to fraud in last November’s general election that Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won by a landslide. According to Myanmar’s local media outlet, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is now in control of the country and a state of emergency has been imposed for one year. 

Speaking to BBC, Turnell said that he was “being detained at the moment” and perhaps changer with something” which he does not yet know about. Speaking further he said although, “everyone was being polite, but obviously he was not free to move or anything like that”. As of not, it is not clear where he has been detained although, he had earlier told BBC that was being kept at his hotel. Macquarie University said it was aware of reports of Turnell's arrest, adding it fully supported "both his work in Myanmar and the efforts of the Australian Government to secure his swift release".

Read: Myanmar Medics Organise 'Civil Disobedience Movement' In Protest Against Military Coup

Read: Twitter Says Myanmar's Move To Block Access To Platform 'undermines Rights Of People'

Military blocks social media platforms

In the name of public interest and state stability after blocking Facebook, the Myanmar Army further expanded its internet crackdown and blocked Twitter as well as Instagram days after seizing power in a coup. On February 4, the new military government blocked access to Facebook as resistance to Monday's coup surged amid calls for civil disobedience to protest the ousting of the elected civilian government and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 

Read: Myanmar Junta Shuts Twitter And Instagram To Curb Protests

Read: Citing State Stability, Myanmar's New Military Blocks Twitter & Instagram After Facebook