WASHINGTON • The United States has expressed deep concern about the Myanmar army's filing of a lawsuit against a religious leader who told President Donald Trump that the military oppressed Christians in the Buddhist-majority country.

The criminal complaint against Reverend Hkalam Samson "seeks to unduly limit his freedom of expression and potentially could disrupt his critical work on behalf of tens of thousands of internally displaced people", US State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

She said the US was "deeply concerned" by the lawsuit and that any decision to "arrest Reverend Samson on the basis of his protected speech would be deeply troubling".

Rev Samson took part in a July meeting at the White House, where victims of religious persecution in different countries met Mr Trump and other US officials.

Rev Samson of Kachin Baptist Convention - a group based in Myanmar's Kachin state that represents the mostly Christian Kachin minority - said Christians were being "oppressed and tortured by the Myanmar military government". He thanked Mr Trump for sanctions imposed on senior military officials, saying they were "very helpful".

The complaint, filed a week ago, refers to a live broadcast of the meeting with Mr Trump streamed on the Facebook page of ABC News' World News Now. It asks for legal action but does not specify a charge.

Rev Samson told Reuters by phone last week: "I think the reason the military is trying to sue me is because I told Donald Trump that I appreciated the sanctions against the Myanmar military."

The US banned Myanmar army chief Min Aung Hlaing, three other senior commanders and their families from entering the US, in response to the massacre of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

A military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017 drove more than 730,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, according to the United Nations.

REUTERS