Exiled Monk Recounts Arrest and Torture After Returning to Myanmar

Buddhist monk Shwe War Yaung Sayadaw Nat Zaw, also known by his monastic name U Pyinnya Zawta, was released from Myanmar’s Insein Prison on Oct. 29 under a government amnesty after nearly a year in detention.

A leading figure in the 2007 Saffron Revolution and a founder of the Young Monks Union in Myanmar, he fled persecution after the crackdown on the monk-led protests and later became a US citizen. He now serves as the abbot of Metta Parami Monastery in Buffalo, New York.

In November 2024, he returned to Myanmar to conduct religious and charitable activities. While traveling in Yangon, his vehicle was intercepted and rammed by a car operated by military personnel, after which he was forcibly detained. He was charged under Penal Code Section 505(a), the Telecommunications Law, and Section 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, and sentenced to 15 years in prison.