Myanmar junta performs mass prisoner transfer ahead of Suu Kyi’s birthday

As activists prepare to mark detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday with protests this week, prisoners’ rights advocates say that authorities have transferred hundreds of prisoners in an apparent bid to stop them from participating. The Political Prisoners Network – Myanmar (PPNM) said on Saturday that junta authorities had transferred more than 200 political prisoners from Mandalay’s Obo Prison and Mon State’s Kyaikmayaw Prison to facilities in other parts of the country a few days before Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters plan to hold “Flower Protests” to honour her and protest the ruling military dictatorship. According to the PPNM statement, more than 100 male and 60 female political prisoners were moved from Kyaikmayaw to the Daik-U and Thayarwaddy prisons in Bago Region, and 73 political prisoners as well as three inmates on narcotics charges were moved from Obo Prison to prisons in Myingyan, Mandalay Region and Magway in the region of the same name. PPNM spokesperson Thike Tun Oo told Myanmar Now that junta authorities relocated the inmates unexpectedly at around 2am on Saturday. Most of those transferred had previously participated in protests, strikes, or movements inside the prisons, according to Thike Tun Oo. “We learned that many of those who have consistently defended fellow inmates against oppression by the prison authorities, political prisoners who have consistently stood up for the oppressed, and many who have led movements in the prisons were deliberately selected for relocation,” he said. He added that he regarded prisoner transfers as a calculated crackdown aimed at preventing them from initiating protests to mark the democratic leader’s birthday or commemorate the 1988 Uprising. Oppression in the prisons At around 6pm on June 12, a male inmate at Kyaikmayaw Prison, who was due to be released soon, fell while installing a zinc roof over a brick wall between the women's and men's dormitories, according to PPNM. Female prisoners argued with the prison authorities, demanding that the critically injured man be sent to a hospital immediately. They arrived at a solution a short time later, and the disagreement appeared to have ended. However, less than three days later at around 2am, prison authorities, police, and soldiers came to the political prisoners’ dormitories at Kyaikmayaw with a list of some of the inmates’ names, shackled them in pairs in vehicles, and drove them to Thayarwaddy and Daik-U prisons. Nu Nu Aung and Khet Khet Lwin—two members of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society activist group—were among the female political prisoners transferred from Kyaikmayaw to Daik-U, according to PPNM. At the same time and date that authorities reportedly moved female prisoners out of Kyaikmayaw, they also transferred 73 political prisoners and three people convicted on drug charges from Obo Prison in Mandalay to Magway and Myingyan. The reasons for this transfer are unclear. On Tuesday, PPNM said authorities verbally abused and beat 40 more political prisoners as they forcibly transferred them from Kyaikmayaw to Daik-U. The authorities also allegedly fired their weapons four times to intimidate the prisoners, although Myanmar Now was unable to verify the details of these incidents independently. A source close to the prison department—a subdivision of the junta-controlled ministry of home affairs—said that only inmates from Obo and Kyaikmayaw prisons had been transferred to other facilities, but that there are plans to relocate more. “We are hearing about measures to reduce the number of inmates in central prisons. However, it is difficult to confirm before they implement this,” said the source. He added that there are rumours that the warden of Kyaikmayaw Prison, Ye Yint Naing, will be transferred to Obo Prison. Flower protests in prisons Anti-junta resistance groups have called on the public to participate in ‘flower protests’ in observance of Aung San Suu Kyi’s 79th birthday this coming Wednesday. According to former detainees, political prisoners in various facilities have participated in the ‘flower protests’, which activists have held throughout Myanmar since the 2021 military coup, to call for Aung San Suu Kyi’s release. Participating protesters wear flowers in emulation of the pro-democracy leader, who is known for making public appearances with flowers in her hair. A woman recently released from Insein Prison in Yangon described how women in the dormitories used to protest in spite of prison authorities’ efforts to stop them. “The day before, the prison authorities would order the inmates to mow the grass and remove all the flowers,” she said, recalling how prison staff would try to prevent the protests on the eve of Suu Kyi’s birthday. “The prison officer herself used scissors to cut the flowers off at the stems.” “In the days leading up to the occasion, authorities spread rumours about prisoner transfers to unsettle the female prisoners. In the men’s dormitories, they placed the ones they suspected of intending to lead the protests in solitary confinement," she continued. However, political prisoners always devised various ways to ensure the protests proceeded, the former political prisoner said. “We knew in advance about the plans for flower protests outside the prison, so we planned for them inside as well,” she recalled. “Some prisoners sewed flowers and some crafted them using paper instead of real flowers.” She remains confident that they will do the same this year despite authorities’ attempts to use transfers to stifle the demonstrations. “People kept in prison will always strive to demonstrate solidarity with their comrades and the public protesting on the outside,” she said. “I believe that despite their physical confinement, they will persist.” The transfers from Obo Prison The reason for the transfer of 76 prisoners from Obo Prison were transferred to Magway and Myingyan on Saturday remains unknown. A source connected to Obo Prison said that the prisoners were taken away in both private vehicles and prison transport vehicles. “Prisoners whose names were listed for transfer were escorted out,” the source said. “There have been a lot of cars entering and leaving the prison grounds.” The wife of an inmate serving a long sentence in Obo Prison told Myanmar Now she is concerned for her husband’s safety after hearing about the transfers. "I planned to visit the prison at the end of this month. It's unclear if he was among those transferred, so I'm anxious. If I could confirm his relocation to another prison, it would be a relief. I just pray he won't be taken out and conscripted into military service," she said. According to prison sources, Obo Prison currently houses over 9,000 inmates, far exceeding its capacity of around 4,000. The prison has a current staff of around 400 with plans in place to appoint more.

Myanmar junta performs mass prisoner transfer ahead of Suu Kyi’s birthday

Authorities moved more than 200 inmates out of Obo Prison in Mandalay and Kyaikmayaw Prison in Mon State to prevent demonstrations supporting the pro-democracy leader, a prisoners’ rights group said

Subscribe for full access

Myanmar charity worker who built a lifeline for the poor loses it all after military coup

Fear grips Mandalay as junta-backed militias and kidnappers prey on residents

For Myanmar migrants in Thailand, hope is a 100-baht lottery ticket

‘Will it be different this time, Grandson?’

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles

At least two killed in blast in Myanmar’s Rakhine state capital

Nighttime junta airstrike kills 2 and injures 6 in Pauktaw Township

Suu Kyi speaks to son for first time in more than five years

Six women killed by Myanmar junta airstrike in Budalin