One political prisoner killed and dozens injured following attacks in two Myanmar prisons

A political prisoner was tortured to death in Mandalay’s Obo Prison late last week, days after dozens of female political detainees were assaulted at Daik-U Prison in Bago Region, according to sources. Htet Yan Naing, a Sagaing native serving a four-year sentence at Obo Prison on terrorism charges, died on June 21 after being severely beaten by prison staff, said Thike Tun Oo, spokesperson for the Political Prisoners Network – Myanmar (PPNM). “The prison staff beat Ko Htet Yan Naing with bamboo sticks, wooden sticks, and batons, and also tortured him with a taser. It was only when he was dying that he was taken from Obo Prison to Mandalay General Hospital,” he said. The victim was targeted for attempting to report drug trafficking inside the prison, according to the PPNM spokesperson. His body was not returned to his family, but sent directly to the cemetery for cremation, he added. Political prisoner Htet Yan Naing, who was tortured to death inside Mandalay’s Obo Prion on June 21 (Supplied) Less than a week earlier, on June 15, another incident at Daik-U Prison left at least 30 female prisoners badly injured, a source close to the prison told Myanmar Now. The prisoners were from among a group of 160 who had just been transferred to Daik-U from Kyaikmaraw Prison in Mon State, according to the source. When some of the women complained that they hadn’t received their personal effects following the transfer, prison staff, including senior officials, entered their cells and started beating them with batons and attacking them with slingshots, the source said. “Some of them suffered broken limbs and internal injuries, with a few experiencing symptoms such as vomiting blood,” he added. The next day, he said, prison staff attacked two women while they were bathing, leaving one of them seriously injured. The source, who did not want to be identified, said that none of the targeted prisoners, including 11 who he described as severely injured, have received proper medical attention. “A doctor came by just once to have a look at them and never came again,” he said. According to the PPNM, three of the injured prisoners are currently being held in solitary confinement, while the others have been crammed into small, overcrowded cells. The transfer from Kyaikmaraw Prison reportedly came after a group of female prisoners there demanded emergency medical assistance for a male prisoner who was electrocuted on June 12 while installing a sheet of corrugated tin between the male and female sections of the prison. “Three days later, those female political prisoners were shackled in pairs and transferred to Daik-U and Thayarwaddy prisons,” said a source who spoke on condition of anonymity. In June of last year, eight political prisoners were shot and killed for allegedly trying to escape while being transferred from Daik-U Prison. A number of similar incidents were also reported elsewhere in the country at around the same time. Meanwhile, advocates for political prisoners in Myanmar say that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is not doing enough to support prisoners who are suffering abuse. “We are closely monitoring the ICRC’s activities in this dire situation, but we have not seen any concrete support from their side,” said Nilar Thein, an 88 Generation activist whose husband, Ko Jimmy, was executed by the regime in July 2022. Since the coup in February 2021, the ICRC has been denied permission to enter Myanmar’s prisons. While it has been able to meet with some former prisoners and provide material support to the newly released, it has said little about its efforts to regain direct access to prisoners who are still behind bars. According to the latest figures released by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 20,631 political prisoners arrested since the military takeover are still in junta custody.

One political prisoner killed and dozens injured following attacks in two Myanmar prisons

The latest incidents come as critics say the International Committee of the Red Cross is not doing enough to protect the country’s political prisoners

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