What does "arrest" mean in English?

Mr. K, from Burma, was denied asylum:

Mr. K's church was not given a permit to build, so, K complained loudly and in person. As a result, government agents, armed with guns, forced K to go to a small room where they punched him. In other words, in the English language, K was "arrested." He was forced to go to a small room and stay there, by government agents.

There are many other words in the English language that mean almost exactly the same thing: K was "detained," K was "imprisoned," K was "jailed." Or, he was "arrested."

A government agent is a government agent. It is not important if the agent was part of the "police" or if he was part of the "Military Intelligence." The man with a gun worked for the government of Burma; that is what is important.

A small room, that you are locked up in, and which has an armed guard outside, is a bad place to be. In English, we do not care if the room is in a "jail,' in a "prison," in a "detention center," or in a "correctional facility." Does the person in the locked room care what kind of building he is in? NO; what is important is that he cannot get out. He is locked in. He is in a room with four walls and a locked door.

Some Burmese people think it is very important to distinguish between being held by the police versus being held by the military. They want to say, "I was arrested by the police;" or, "I was detained by the military." We do not care about that here in the USA. Whether it is police or the military, we do not care. Each man with a gun is an agent of the government.

Some Burmese people think it is very important to distinguish between "jail" and "prison." We do not care about that here in the USA. A locked room is a locked room.

Mr. K decided he was an expert in the English language. Even though the military forced him into a small room, Mr. K said he was NOT arrested, because he thinks the military does not "arrest" people; it "detains" them.