23/12/2025
“Where is Htet Myat Aung?: Urgent Action Needed
to Protect the Life of Htet Myat Aung”
Date: 22nd December, 2025
We urgently call on the international community to demand that the Myanmar military junta immediately disclose the whereabouts of nonviolent protest leader Htet Myat Aung. The junta must allow him to contact his family and colleagues as proof that he is alive and ensure his immediate access to legal representation. New information received through informal sources raises grave concerns that Htet Myat Aung may have been killed during interrogation.
We are gravely concerned for the life and well-being of 24-year-old pro-democracy activist Htet Myat Aung, who was detained by the junta in Mandalay on the evening of 14 December 2025. Since his arrest, his family and colleagues have been denied all contact with him, and his current whereabouts remain unknown. This enforced disappearance places him at serious risk of torture and other grave human rights violations.
Htet Myat Aung was targeted following his leadership in a nonviolent flash mob protest against the military dictatorship near Zay Cho Market in Mandalay on 3 December 2025. The peaceful protest was perceived as a threat by the junta, which subsequently issued an additional arrest warrant with monetary rewards under the newly amended election law. The junta is using the election law as a tool of repression to silence anyone who opposes its sham election. Opposing the election is a basic democratic right and must not be punished. The arrest of Htet Myat Aung exposes the coercion behind the junta’s election plans and proves that any such election will not be free or fair.
When the coup happened, Htet Myat Aung was only 18 years old. Since then, Htet Myat Aung has been an active leader in the nonviolent movement, organizing and leading numerous flash mob protests in Mandalay. In 2024 and 2025 alone, he led at least ten urban flash mob actions, despite the military’s violent crackdown on nonviolent dissent. The junta initially issued an arrest warrant for him between 2021 and 2022, and the recent arrest was based on an additional warrant.
We urge the international community to take immediate and sustained action to protect Htet Myat Aung’s life, demand an end to his enforced disappearance, and hold the Myanmar military junta accountable for ongoing violations of international human rights law.
For inquiries:
Ma Aye Myint Aung Aung – .98 (Signal)
Ko Nan Lin – .63 (Signal)
Ko BT - @ btmaeu.27(Signal)
Issued jointly by:
Anti-junta Forces Coordination Committee (Mandalay) – AFCC-MDY
Yadanabon University Students’ Union (YDNBUSU)
General Strike Coordination Body (GSCB)
