speaks to the media outside a township court in Yangon on August 6,
2020, accused of holding a church service amid restrictions in
place to halt the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. – A Canadian
preacher who claimed Christians were safe from coronavirus was on
August 6 jailed for three months in Myanmar after he and dozens of
his followers became infected when he held a banned service. (Photo
by Sai Aung Main / AFP)
A Canadian preacher who claimed Christians were safe from
coronavirus was on Thursday jailed for three months in Myanmar
after he and dozens of his followers became infected when he held a
banned service.
The Southeast Asian nation has so far weathered the pandemic
well with just 357 confirmed cases and six deaths, although the low
numbers tested make many fear the true figures are far higher.
Toronto-based David Lah, 43, was born in Myanmar and often
returns to his motherland to preach.
The country imposed a ban on gatherings in mid-March, but
footage emerged in early April of Lah holding a service in
Yangon.
“If people hold the Bible and Jesus in their hearts, the disease
will not come in,” he proclaimed in one video to a roomful of
faithful.
“The only person who can cure and give peace in this pandemic is
Jesus.”
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Canadian pastor David Lah arrives at a township court for a hearing
in Yangon on August 6, 2020, accused of holding a church service
amid restrictions in place to halt the spread of the COVID-19
coronavirus.(Photo by Sai Aung Main / AFP)
Lah tested positive for coronavirus shortly afterwards, and
dozens of confirmed cases were traced back to his followers.
The preacher was arrested after recovering from the illness in
May and faced up to three years in jail for violating the Natural
Disaster and Management Law.
On Thursday, however, a Yangon court chose to be lenient.
Lah and his colleague Wai Tun had been sentenced to three months
imprisonment, Lah’s lawyer Aung Kyi Win told reporters outside the
court, adding that time already served would be deducted.
A waiting crowd of the preacher’s followers erupted into cheers
and celebrations at the news.
The scandal even touched Myanmar’s Christian vice-president
Henry Van Thio and his family, who had attended an earlier service
with Lah in February, although they later tested negative.
About six percent of Buddhist-majority Myanmar’s population
identifies as one of the various Christian denominations in the
country.
-AFP
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