Since the military coup in Myanmar, the military has begun work to arrest foreign nationals.
Sean Turnell, an Australian-born economic adviser to Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, told the media Saturday (Feb. 6) that he has been detained. This is the first known foreign national arrested by the military since Myanmar’s democratically elected government was overthrown in a military coup on Feb. 1.
“I guess you will hear about this soon, but I am being detained,” Tenille said, “being charged, but not sure what the charges are. I’m fine, strong and not guilty of any crime.”
Tenille then lost contact with the media.
The Australian Foreign Office issued a statement Saturday evening “expressing deep concern about reports that Australian and other foreign nationals are being arbitrarily detained in Myanmar.”
In its statement, the Australian Foreign Office did not mention Tenille by name, expressing concern only that an Australian was being detained at a police station in particular.
The statement said, “The Australian Embassy in Yangon continues to contact Australians in Myanmar to ascertain their safety, to the extent that communications permit.”
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs did not provide further information on the detention of other foreign nationals in Myanmar.
Tenille is a professor of economics at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and has been an economic policy adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi in recent years.
Thousands of people in Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, took to the streets Saturday to denounce a military coup in Myanmar and demand the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.
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