Figure 19. Households who have communication w ith their imprisoned relative 14% yes 87% no 300 respondents provided information about 354 incarcerated relatives Rohingya face movement restrictions that make it difficult to avoid acting illegally A 22-year-old woman described her husband’s arrest for traveling in 2013, after they had been married for three months. “The police came to my house and surrounded us. They arrested my husband, but gave no clear reason. They said he was not on his family list and that he was actually from Bangladesh. Actually, he was left off his family list because he used to travel often to Bangladesh for his textile business, and one time he was away during the family counting process. Because of this, the authorities accused him of illegal immigration—of going back and forth across the border illegally…” “Actually, they knew that he was from Myanmar. But he went to Bangladesh illegally; so then they said that he must be a criminal. Last year he was released from prison, but he can’t come here. He was forcibly sent to the IDP camp in Sittwe after his release…I don’t know how long he will have to stay there.” Upon release, some Rohingya prisoners detained in Myanmar try to rebuild their lives, while others make plans to flee quickly Several recently released prisoners interviewed for this study said they had initially hoped to stay in Myanmar to guard family assets and rebuild livelihoods, aiming for their family members sheltering in Bangladesh to join them once the situation improved. But they found it difficult to survive without the support of a family network in the depopulated environment, where labor markets were obliterated by the sudden population decline. Some, who recounted harassment and pressure from authorities threatening to arrest them again, fled to Bangladesh in fear of another detention. Arafat, who was released from a Myanmar prison in October 2019 and arrived in Bangladesh in January 2020, said he never thought that remaining would be an option. “I never thought about staying in Myanmar. I wanted to come be with my family. Every day, there are problems with the Myanmar government. The government, the Tatmadaw, the Arakan Army, everyone is fighting.” Arafat described taking a loan from a friend in order to pay bribes at checkpoints and to cross the Naf River. Solim, a 36-year-old father of three from Buthidaung, explained a relative’s long-term plan to prepare for his family’s repatriation after his release from prison. “I have one brother-in-law in Myanmar who was in prison and recently released,” Solim explained. “He is now living there with his brother, a government schoolteacher who is still occupying the family home. The released one is trying to bring his wife—my sister—back to Myanmar from here. He will wait for a safe time and keep trying for the next year or two. If the situation is still not good, he says, he will try to come to Bangladesh.” Another recently released prisoner, Mohammad, explained that he had attempted to return and live peacefully in his home village after his release, optimistically anticipating that his family might soon be able to repatriate. However, he ended up fleeing to Bangladesh. “When I was released, I went to speak with the local authority in our area,” Mohammad recounted. “The commander asked me if I would stay in Myanmar or go to Bangladesh. I told him that if it was peaceful, I would stay there. I stayed for a month and a half. But it wasn’t good, so I fled. I was trying to run a small business—a small shop. But I couldn’t. The authorities accused me of having my relatives visit me from Bangladesh and said they were opening a new investigation against me. This was a completely false accusation.” Mohammad described his eventual journey across the border. “I traveled to Bangladesh with three other people, also prisoners, who were released within 15 days of me. We each only knew that the other was scheduled for release because our names had all been posted on a signboard in the jail. We contacted each other and discussed whether we should stay or flee.” The men decided to flee together and reunited to make the journey. “We came by walking through the mountains, carrying rations. We camped in the jungle and reached the border within four days, because if we had traveled by car we would have been questioned at the checkpoints.” 21