SW News: Condemning the atrocities of the Myanmar military, the United States has called for the immediate release of Baptist pastor Rev. Dr. Hkalam Samson. Rev Samson, a Kachin Baptist Convention adviser, was detained in December on suspicion of meeting with members of an ethnic armed organization and hosting a prayer gathering with Myanmar's alternative civilian administration.

Calling for all charges against him to be dropped, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said, "We condemn the Burma military regime's arrest and detention of prominent ethnic Kachin Christian leader, Reverend Dr. Hkalam Samson."

During a press meeting last week, Price urged the "regime to cease its unconscionable repression against religious actors and communities in Burma and end the violence." Expressing their concerns over the safety and well-being of the pastor, Price added the calls to drop the charges against him and release the pastor.

Rev Samson had arranged for the badly injured to obtain emergency medical care at the closest hospitals and organized the funerals of more than 60 people who died in the junta's attack on a KIO anniversary performance in Hpakant township last October. In addition, he took part in a prayer gathering held in Myitkyina a month after the incident coordinated by the Myanmar Council of Churches, remembering the victims.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, since the coup in 2021, 16,120 people have been detained, and at least 3000 people have been killed.

Myanmar was named among the 12 countries by the United States that are of "particular concern" for religious freedom violations last year.

Approximately seven percent of the population of Myanmar — around 4.4 million — are Christian. The Kachin people are a majority Christian ethnic group.