“The sub-inspector at Thanlyin Police Station came and told us that he [Gambira] would be released on bail on the orders of higher authorities,” Aung Kyaw Kyaw said. “We are now waiting at Insein Prison for the police to come and take him to court.”

“I am holding my breath and just hope that he is released,” his mother Daw Ray told Mizzima from Meiktila in central Burma.

Now known by his birth name of Nyi Nyi Lwin since disrobing from the Buddhist monkhood, Ashin Gambira was instrumental in coordinating demonstrations by Buddhist monks during the 2007 “Saffron Revolution” uprising.

He was subsequently jailed and given a sentence of 68 years, but received a presidential pardon in January 2012. He was rearrested at least three times over the past 11 months, most famously for unlocking the gates of Maggin, Chaukhtatgyi and Thanlyin monasteries which had been sealed shut by the police after the Saffron Revolution.

He was rearrested on December 1 though the reasons are obscure. His mother told Mizzima that the family believed he was rearrested to prevent him participating in the new wave of protests that have broken out since riot police cracked down violently on protesters and monks at the Monywa copper mine site in Sagaing Division on November 29.
Aung Kyaw Kyaw said that the NLD chairman for Thanlyin Township, Soe Han, and writer Zaw Win had offered to put down 2 million kyat each as bail money for Ashin Gambira’s release.

His family says Nyi Nyi Lwin is now suffering ill health due to his ill-treatment in prison.