YANGON, Oct 1: The Myanmar’s military government has detained human rights activist Myint Aye, who was once a local leader of Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition National League for Democracy, fellow activists said Sunday.

The activists had earlier identified the man as lawyer Aye Myint, an NLD member in his early 50s previously sentenced to seven years in prison for reporting government labour abuses to the International Labour Organization.

They said the confusion came up because of the similarity in their names. “The one arrested (Saturday) was Myint Aye, a former NLD chairman of Kyeemyintdaing Township,” said NLD member Su Su Nway.

Myanmar’s junta has detained six activists since Wednesday. The first three were picked up just hours before a celebration to mark the 18th anniversary of the formation of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD party.

Aside from Myint Aye, the other five activists arrested were all student leaders who led a pro-democracy uprising in 1988 to demand an end to decades of military rule.—AFP