Man detained on suspicion of harbouring PDF fighters dies in Myingyan prison 

A man who was jailed on suspicion of hosting resistance fighters in his home in Mandalay Region has died after a month in detention, his daughter told Myanmar Now. 

Maung Htay, 55, from Kywe Chan village, passed away in Myingyan prison. Authorities told his family he died of heart problems, and later claimed he also had Covid-19, but the family say they don’t trust this explanation and were not allowed a close look at his body. 

The prison notified the family about his death on Monday morning, said the daughter, who asked not to be named. When they arrived at the prison, they were only allowed to see his body from outside the morgue; officials said they could not go inside because of the risk posed by Covid-19. 

But the family saw doctors and prison officers enter the morgue without any personal protective equipment, the daughter added.

“They could have notified us of his condition early on,” the daughter said. “I told them he wouldn’t have had to die if he had been hospitalised early. We saw with our own eyes that no one was wearing PPE.”

The family asked to be able to bring the body back to his village for a funeral, but prison officers refused, again citing the pandemic. Officials then cremated Maung Htay’s body at the Suu Chan Kone cemetery at around 3pm the same day, before the family was able to get a closer look at the body. 

While it was true that Maung Htay had a heart condition, the daughter said, it was manageable and he was successfully treating it with medication before his arrest. 

“Dad was on some medication for his heart but it was not full-blown heart disease. He didn’t get to see a doctor after they arrested him,” she said. 

Maung Htay was detained on July 10 and the family had no contact with him after that and received no updates about his health. 

“They should have notified us or even let him get treatment if he was sick. He didn’t deserve to die,” the daughter said, crying. 

Maung Htay made his living breeding fish and leaves behind his wife, four adult children and a daughter in grade 11.

He spent six days at an interrogation center before he was sent to prison. Although he was arrested after being accused of harbouring People’s Defence Force (PDF) fighters, he was charged with incitement under section 505A, according to his lawyer.

He was among around 80 Myingyan residents arrested by the junta in July, according to the Myingyan Public Movement Committee, a local anti-junta group. 

Myingyan has been relatively calm compared to other areas of the country. There has been no fighting between the PDF and junta forces, and no killings of junta targets by guerilla groups. 

But the military has nonetheless launched numerous raids on villages in the township, forcing many to flee, according to locals. 

Moe Zaw, from Sone Ywar Kone village in Myingyan, died in late July, also after about a month in detention, according to his family.  

He died at the Myingyan Public Hospital from injuries sustained during interrogation at Mandalay Palace, the family said. 

“It’s not just in Myingyan or Insein. The healthcare in every prison all over the country is substandard,” said an official from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, who asked not to be named. “One might say they rigged the system that way so that people would die faster.”

The group says at least 36 people have been tortured to death in custody since the coup in February. 

Myanmar Now could not reach a junta spokesperson for comment.