Captain Win Htein, a member of Burma's opposition party – National League for Democracy – who was among those prisoners freed on Tuesday from Katha Prison in Northern Burma, was reportedly re-arrested on Wednesday morning, according to a NLD spokesperson.

While the reason for his re-arrest is unclear, family members, who were overjoyed to hear of his release, had reportedly left Rangoon and are traveling to northern Burma under the assumption that they can take him home.

Nyan Win, the NLD spokesperson, said the retired captain was staying at a guest house in Katha after his release when local police came on Wednesday morning and re-arrested him.

"The latest information that we get is that captain Win Htein is back in Katha Prison. But we don't know the reason for his re-arrest," Nyan Win told Mizzima by telephone.

Win Htein was one of seven political prisoners included among the 9,002 prisoners that the junta released on Tuesday. Other political prisoners released included veteran journalist Win Tin, Dr. May Win Myint, Aung Soe Myint, Khin Maung Swe and Dr. Than Nyein.

Win Htein served as personal assistant to the NLD's Vice-Chairman General Thura Tin Oo as well as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in 1988 during the peoples' protests against the government.

He was arrested briefly in 1989 and was severely tortured by the then military intelligence. He was arrested for a second time in 1996 under charges of providing fabricated news and information.

Win Htein, a 1963 graduate of the Military Academy, served for five years in the Ministry of Defense. But he was forced to resign after he was found to be involved in an attempted coup within the military.

While serving in the military, Win Htein was the personal assistant to General Thura Tin Oo, who himself was sentenced to seven years imprisonment on charges that he failed to provide information on an attempted coup by Captain Ohn Kyaw Myint. With the failed coup attempt, Ohn Kyaw Myint was sentenced to capital punishment.