The Myanmar junta suspended laws that prevent security forces from detaining suspects or searching private properties without court approval and ordered the arrest of well-known supporters of mass protests against the coup.
The announcements were made on Saturday, the eighth day of demonstrations across the country against the seizure and detention of the elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on February 1, which interrupted an unstable transition to democracy started in 2011.
A statement signed by the military ruler, Gen Min Aung Hlaing, ordered the suspension of three sections of the laws “protecting the privacy and security of citizens”, which were introduced after the opening of Myanmar after half a century of military rule.
Suspended sections include the requirement for a court order to detain prisoners for more than 24 hours and restrictions on the ability of security forces to enter – and if necessary cause damage – to private property to search or make arrests. The suspension also frees authorities to spy on all communications.
The statement did not give a specific end date.
The coup sparked the biggest street protests in more than a decade and was denounced by Western countries, with the United States announcing some sanctions on ruling generals and other countries also considering measures.
Before Myanmar started democratic reforms, it was one of the most isolated countries in the world. In another echo of the old age, the junta reintroduced the requirement that villages and neighborhoods in cities register who stayed overnight.
While anti-coup protests erupted again in the largest city, Yangon, in the capital, Naypyidaw, and elsewhere on Saturday, the army said arrest warrants had been issued to seven high-profile critics of the military regime because of their comments on the networks social.
People must inform the police if they find any of the seven named people and will be punished if they house them, the Army intelligence team said in a statement.
He said the cases were brought under a law that imposes up to two years in prison for comments that could cause alarm or “threaten tranquility”.
On the wanted list is Min Ko Naing, 58, who was jailed most of the time between 1988 and 2012 and who has been one of the most prominent figures in encouraging protests and a civil disobedience movement.
Reuters was unable to contact him immediately for comment.
Others with warrants against them included “Jimmy” Kyaw Min Yu – also a veteran of the 1988 student uprising – singer “Lin Lin” Htwe Lin Ko, Myo Yan Naung Thein, a political analyst, Maung Maung Aye, a television presenter, and writer Insein Aung Soe.
“I am very proud to have a warrant issued with Min Ko Naing. Catch me if you can, ”said another, Hey Pencilo, to his more than 1.6 million Facebook followers.
Like several of the nominees, she worked with Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide victory in the November elections in which the army claimed to be tainted with fraud – an allegation rejected by the electoral commission.
The UN human rights office said on Friday that more than 350 people have been arrested in Myanmar since Min Aung Hlaing’s coup.
Journalist Shwe Yee Win, who had reported on opposition to the coup in the city of Pathein, was taken by police and soldiers on Thursday and has not been heard from since, their news website TimeAyeyar and her mother said.
“I’m very worried,” said Thein Thein, now looking after her daughter’s one-year-old son.
The government did not respond to requests for comment.
The Association of Assistance for Political Prisoners has expressed concern about a wave of overnight arrests.
“Family members are unaware of the accusations, location or condition of their loved ones. These are not isolated incidents, and the nightly raids target dissident voices, ”the newspaper said in a statement.
Aung San Suu Kyi, for decades the flagship of the struggle for democracy in Myanmar, faces charges of illegal importation and use of six walkie-talkie radios.
NLD press officer Kyi Toe said on Facebook that she was healthy under house arrest in the capital, Naypyidaw.
The coup and arrests have sparked anger in Western countries. The 47-member UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on Friday calling on Myanmar to release detainees and to refrain from using violence against protesters.