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Dozens of Insein Prison inmates beaten, put in solitary confinement after protest, lawyers say

Two lawyers who visited Yangon’s Insein Prison on Monday for client court hearings said that nearly 90 inmates who refused to leave their cells on Friday in an act of protest were beaten and put in solitary confinement as punishment. 

Many of those imprisoned on politically motivated charges and convictions related to Section 505a of the Penal Code for incitement did not leave their cells on Friday. The move was in solidarity with the “Silent Strike” which took place nationwide that day and called on the public to close businesses, empty the streets and stay home. 

At around 3pm, seven hours into their strike, the inmates sang a well-known anti-dictatorship song in unison, after which the Insein authorities began beating and interrogating them about who was leading the protest within the prison, the lawyers told Myanmar Now. 

One of the lawyers said that an inmate she saw after Friday’s protest and subsequent crackdown had bruises “all over” their back and midsection, as well as injuries to their hand. 

“I was also told that [the prison authorities] didn’t let them get medical treatment for their injuries,” the lawyer explained. 

She continued that a total of 89 inmates were “questioned,” a process that involved beatings by prison staff with batons, rubber sticks and rubber ropes. At least two people were abused to the point of losing consciousness and one suffered hearing loss, according to the lawyer. 

Among them was student union member Zaw Htet Naing—also known as Sitt Naing—who reportedly had his life threatened and was beaten until he passed out, the lawyer told Myanmar Now. Further details were not known about his condition at the time of reporting. 

Another lawyer who went to Insein following the crackdown said that one inmate’s skin was “already peeling from all the beatings.” 

He said that the nearly 90 inmates who had taken part in the Silent Strike were being held in 8-by-8-foot individual cells, unable to leave except to shower and prohibited from accepting food parcels delivered by their families outside. 

“They said they would be removed from the solitary cells in two weeks if they were good, but if they fail to comply, they will be held there for more than two weeks,” the second lawyer said. 

An archive photo of a building in the Insein Prison compound where inmates are known to be placed in solitary confinement (Zayar Lwin / Facebook)

Zayar Lwin, a political activist who was imprisoned in Insein but released in an amnesty in April, wrote on his Facebook page that those who took part in the protest were beaten brutally.

“The prison authorities took our comrades out of their cells and made them walk towards the main building from the cell blocks while they beat them. When they arrived at the main building, they continued to beat them and put them in solitary cells,” he said on the social media platform, but did not elaborate on how he had received the information.

Myanmar Now is unable to independently verify the reports from the two lawyers or Zayar Lwin regarding the incidents inside the prison. 

Hundreds of political prisoners in Insein Prison previously protested by chanting anti-dictatorship slogans on July 23.

There have been additional reports of women detained in Insein being subjected to sexual abuse and harassment within the prison. After returning from court hearings, women regularly are forced to endure humiliating body cavity searches, and have reported being groped by prison authorities during the process, the second lawyer told Myanmar Now.

“The female prison authorities even check the insides of their privates. They would even check a menstruating inmate in that manner and continue to repeat the process on another inmate without washing their hands,” he said.

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