Authorities in Myanmar have detained Britain's former ambassador to the South-East Asian nation, two people with knowledge of the situation said.
Vicky Bowman, who currently runs the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB), and her husband, Htein Lin, a Burmese artist and former political prisoner, were detained on Wednesday, sources said, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.
A source with knowledge of the situation said she and her husband had been charged with immigration offences.
They had been remanded in custody and were being sent to Insein prison, the notorious jail on the outskirts of the commercial capital of Yangon where many political prisoners were held.
The source added their young daughter remained "safe and well".
Australian academic Sean Turnell, who is being tried with ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on charges of violating the country's official secrets law, had been held in Insein prison before being sent to another jail in Naypyitaw, the capital.
A statement from the junta later on Thursday said the couple were being investigated under the Immigration Act for staying at a different address than Ms Bowman's official registration specified, after moving to a different town.
"It is found that Vicky Bowman violated the immigration act 13/1," said the statement circulated to journalists. The law carries a sentence of six months to five years of prison time.
"Htein Lin knew that his wife moved to Kalaw and stayed there, he facilitated the violations without informing the authorities. Therefore, he was charged under section 13/1."
The junta did not specify whether the couple was in custody.
Bowman has decades of history with Myanmar
The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told the ABC it was "concerned by the arrest of a British woman in Myanmar".
"We are in contact with the local authorities and are providing consular assistance," it said in a statement.
Ms Bowman served as ambassador to Myanmar from 2002–2006 and has more than three decades of experience in the country.
Her husband is one of Myanmar's most famous artists and a veteran activist who spent more than six years in prison between 1998 and 2004 for his opposition to an earlier junta.
After he was freed in 2004, he came to the attention of then-ambassador Ms Bowman for a series of paintings he had made while imprisoned, using smuggled materials.
She persuaded him to let her take the paintings for his own security, and the pair married in 2006.
Myanmar has been in political and economic chaos since the military overthrew an elected government in early 2021.
More than 15,000 people have been arrested and 12,119 remain in detention, according to activist group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
The junta, which has been fighting armed resistance across the country, has claimed those figures were exaggerated.
Further UK sanctions announced
The detention of Ms Bowman came as the UK announced further sanctions against military-linked businesses in Myanmar.
"They are being sanctioned in an effort to limit the military's access to arms and revenue," the UK government said in a statement.
The UK's Minister for Asia, Amanda Milling, also confirmed it intended to intervene in the case of The Gambia v Myanmar, which is before the International Court of Justice.
"The case will determine whether Myanmar has violated its obligations under the Genocide Convention in relation to the military's acts against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017," she said in a statement.
"The UK will always face down those who seek to undermine and destroy our values of freedom and democracy. Five years on, we continue to stand in solidarity with the Rohingya people and condemn the Myanmar armed forces' horrific campaign of ethnic cleansing.
"Our decision to intervene in The Gambia v Myanmar case and a further round of sanctions sends a strong signal of our continued support to seek accountability for the atrocities in 2017 and also restrict the military junta's access to finance and the supply of arms."
Britain is the fourth country after the Maldives, Netherlands and Canada to vow formal support for the case.
Ties between the UK and Myanmar have soured since the coup in 2021.
The junta earlier this year criticised Britain's recent downgrading of its mission in the country as "unacceptable".
ABC/Reuters
