Concern over arrest of Burmese monk: CEN 9.12.08 p 6.

The abbot of a Buddhist monastery was arrested during a pre-dawn raid in Rangoon on Sept 5, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) Burma reports. The arrest of the Ven U Thila Won, abbot of the Malayone monastery in the Rangoon’s Thanlin district comes at the start of the treason trials of monks who led last year’s “Saffron Revolution” against the military junta in Burma. According to a statement released by the Bangkok-based AAPP, the security services entered the monastery at around 2:00am on Sept 5 and forced the 17 monks in residence to lie down on the floor as the building was searched. The abbot was taken into custody and the monks told not to leave the monastery. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.