One of Myanmar’s biggest hip-hop artists has been detained for criticising the military government on Facebook, the BBC has confirmed.
Byu Har criticized how the recent widespread power disruptions in Myanmar were handled. Since the coup in 2021 that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government, the nation has had difficulty securing supplies for gas-fired electrical plants.
His detention is one in the series of the regime’s crackdown on critics.
Byu Har, who had been based in Yangon, had called the electricity minister “a fool” and “incompetent” in a video posted to Facebook on Tuesday night.
“During the past five years under the old lady, we had 24 hours of electricity, not only that, the electricity bill was [going] down,” he said referring to the former democratically-elected leader Ms Suu Kyi.
In addition to using offensive language to criticize the junta’s officials, the rapper invited them to arrest him by providing his home location in the caption of the video.
The musician was detained in Yangon’s North Dagon Township by police on Wednesday before friends and family lost contact with him, sources familiar with the incident told the BBC.
Prior to his arrest, the rapper had received several warnings from authorities for producing music critical of the junta, they added.
It is still unclear where he is being held or what condition he is in.
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