Six officials arrested Paing Soe Oo in his apartment in Rangoon, according to the exile-run Mizzima news agency. Officials searched his home and seized one of the journalist’s notebooks, the report said.
Paing Soe Oo, who formerly worked for the weekly news publications Favorite and Pyi Myanmar, is a freelance online commentator writing under the name Jay Paing. He also was a member of the volunteer relief group Lin Let Kye (Shining Star), which provided unsanctioned relief to Cyclone Nargis survivors and has been targeted by authorities for persecution.
Maung Thura, an organizing member of Lin Let Kye, was serving a total of 35 years for communicating with exiled dissidents and giving interviews to foreign media that criticized the government’s disaster relief efforts.