Junta denying basic rights to detainees in Monywa

Junta authorities in the Sagaing Region capital are abusing the rights of hundreds of detainees—including around 200 arrested for political reasons—according to their family members and associates. Some 350 people held at Police Station No. 1 in Monywa—some on suspicion of supporting the anti-junta People’s Defence Forces (PDF)—are being deprived even of the basic rights guaranteed to prisoners, such as seeing their families or receiving parcels and letters. For some of the detainees, the only evidence of support for anti-junta activities was sending ‘likes’ or sharing pro-resistance posts on social media. One detainee’s family member said authorities had been holding them at the police station without bringing charges or transferring them to prisons. "We have not been allowed to meet them since they were detained. We are not allowed to send letters to them, either. When I asked for permission to meet them, the authorities told me that we would not be allowed to see them at all because they are in police custody,” he said. The people held at the police station were arrested in the city of Monywa and the surrounding area. According to Thike Tun Oo, a staff member at the Political Prisoners Network-Myanmar (PPNM), the junta has detained some of them at the station for more than a year on the pretext of security concerns. Initially, the authorities were purportedly planning to transfer the detainees in groups of around 50 at a time to Monywa Prison or Obo Prison in Mandalay. However, they failed to adhere to this schedule after the launch of the anti-junta Operation 1027 offensive in October 2023, according to a detainee’s family member, instead keeping the detainees in police custody indefinitely. "Some families paid 10 million kyat [US $4,700] a week” to see their detained relatives, he said. “I heard they could visit if they did. They could also send curries and meals to their family members in custody.” Prisoners have faced severe repression in Myanmar since the military coup of 2021. According to figures tracked by the PPNM, 17 political prisoners in seven prisons across the country died because of inadequate medical treatment. Prison visits have recently been allowed again throughout the country after being suspended for three years during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the hundreds detained at the No. 1 Police Station are denied even the most basic rights afforded to prison inmates, Thike Tun Oo said. “They aren’t even observing prisoners’ rights in this case because the detainees are not covered by the prison manual law. Instead, the authorities are only subject to police station procedures,” he said. In addition to being unable to see or receive mail from their families without bribing the police, the 350 men and women being held at the station are reportedly underfed and deprived of adequate medical care. According to data collected by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) (AAPP-B), since the February 2021 coup Myanmar’s military junta has detained 20,168 people as of February 27 of this year, of whom 8,827 have been sentenced to prison terms.

Junta denying basic rights to detainees in Monywa

Hundreds of men and women have been held at length without charges at a Sagaing Region police station, prevented even from seeing their families or receiving mail

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