US joins global calls to release Myanmar’s Baptist pastor

The global calls for the immediate release of a Baptist minister in Myanmar have grown louder with the US State Department joining Baptist churches and rights groups around the world in condemning his arrest and detention by the military junta.

Reverend Dr. Hkalam Samson, a former head of the Kachin Baptist Convention, was detained by local authorities at Mandalay International Airport on Dec. 4 while on his way to Bangkok for a medical examination.

“We condemn the Burma military regime’s arrest and detention of prominent ethnic Kachin Christian leader Rev. Dr. Hkalam Samson,” State Department spokesman Ned Price reportedly told reporters during a press briefing in Washington on Feb. 23.

He called for the immediate release of the pastor and for all charges against him to be dropped.

“We are extremely concerned for his wellbeing and safety and encourage our partners and allies to join us in calling on the regime to drop all charges and immediately and unconditionally release Rev. Samson,” Price said.

Global rights groups including Human Rights Watch have called the charges leveled against the pastor “politically motivated.”

Rev. Samson is charged with meeting members of the ethnic armed group, Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and holding a prayer with ministers from the National Unity Government (NUG) in exile comprising a group of elected lawmakers and members of parliament ousted in the 2021 coup.

On Feb.14, he was charged under section 52A of the counterterrorism law for meeting NUG ministers Dr. Tu Hkawng and Ja Htoi Pan in KIA’s headquarters- Lai Za, according to media reports quoting the pastor’s lawyer.

Reports said a hearing related to charges under the counterterrorism law was held in a special court in Myitkyina, Kachin state’s capital city on Feb. 21 and the next hearing will be on Feb.28.

If found guilty, Rev. Samson could face three years each for unlawful association and for incitement while up to seven years jail term under a counterterrorism law.

Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement released on Feb. 20, called the prosecution of the Kachin religious figure “a heavy-handed attempt to chill all dissent among ethnic minority leaders” and “shows that no one is safe in Myanmar.”

The Kachin pastor is well-known for his humanitarian work in the war-torn Southeast Asian nation where the military’s reign of terror has resulted in the death of more than 3,000 civilians and the displacement of more than 1.5 million people.

Rev. Samson is the chairman of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly, the political arm of the KIA. The assembly has religious leaders, politicians and office-bearers of the Kachin Independence Organization as its members.

Earlier, the pastor was secretary and president of the KBC for 12 years and is still associated with it in his capacity as an adviser.

The junta has continued filing lawsuits against the pastor ignoring appeals by the Baptist World Alliance, KBC, and civil society groups for his immediate release.

In 2019, the military initiated legal action against him for telling then-US President Donald Trump that the junta was oppressing ethnic minorities, including Christians, in Myanmar.

Christians make up nearly 6 percent of Myanmar’s population of 54 million, while Buddhism is the state religion and is practiced by 89 percent of the population.