Myanmar junta transferred hundreds of political prisoners before execution anniversary

In a possible bid to prevent protests commemorating political prisoners executed by the junta, authorities moved hundreds of detainees out of Yangon on Sunday, prisoners’ rights advocates said. The military council transferred at least 200 male and 60 female prisoners—most of whom were held for political reasons—from Yangon’s Insein Prison to Daik-U Prison in the Bago Region town of the same name that morning, according to Theik Tun Oo, a spokesperson for the advocacy group Political Prisoners Network-Myanmar (PPNM). “They transferred hundreds of prisoners and among them, we have received confirmation that 200 male and 60 female political prisoners were transferred to the Daik-U Prison,” Theik Tun Oo said. “We still do not know how many were transferred to Thayarwaddy Prison.” The mass transfer was likely intended to thwart potential demonstrations by prisoners to mark the upcoming anniversary of prisoner executions carried out by the military regime in 2022. On July 23 if that year, the junta executed veteran pro-democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu—widely known as Ko Jimmy—and ousted member of parliament Phyo Zayar Thaw, as well as two other prisoners sentenced to death for murdering military informants: Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw. Last month, ahead of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday, authorities similarly transferred over 200 prisoners, most of whom were political prisoners, to facilities in other regions. “It’s become almost a custom for political prisoners to take part in strikes planned to coincide with activists’ protests on the outside. You can say the prison authorities were implementing the mass transfers to separate prisoners from strike organisers,” Theik Tun Oo said. To disrupt plans for strikes or other action, military authorities have typically avoided giving advance notice to the prisoners before a transfer, according to a released political prisoner who participated in a prison strike in 2022. The former inmate described how prison officials reacted when prisoners offered food to monks and organised a “lights off” strike in October 2022 to mark the date three months after the executions. “We wore orange armbands and the authorities took very harsh action against us. They’ve been monitoring us close to significant dates since then,” the ex-prisoner said. “They only let the inmates pack two changes of the prison uniform, one set of plain clothes, and some medicine,” he added. “They also shaved people’s hair off if it was long, and put manacles on two people’s ankles before sending them to another prison together.” Insein Prison allows one in-person visit per month and the delivery of two care packages per month for each prisoner. However, transferring the inmates to other regions will make it more difficult for visitors to see or send packages to them. The relatives of one Insein prisoner in Yangon said they were worried about him after hearing he would be transferred on July 21. “The biggest difficulty we will face is bringing care packages, because we will need to start travelling a day in advance,” the relative said. “The other thing we’re worried about is the living conditions in those other prisons.” According to data collected by the monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners as of July 18, more than 5,400 anti-junta activists have been killed in Myanmar—with at least 2,000 of the deaths now under investigation as murders—while more than 27,000 have been arrested since the 2021 military coup.

Myanmar junta transferred hundreds of political prisoners before execution anniversary

Authorities moved inmates to prisons in other regions en masse, apparently anticipating strikes on July 23 to mark the date of the military regime’s infamous 2022 executions of political prisoners

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