Political prisoners transferred to Mandalay Region’s Myingyan Prison last month have reportedly been subjected to repeated abuse by authorities at the facility.
Hundreds of detainees from Obo Prison, also in Mandalay, and Monywa Prison in Sagaing were moved to Myingyan in early August for undetermined reasons, and have since been singled out for beatings.
“They beat them while telling them that they can’t expect to have human rights in prison,” a member of the Monywa People’s Strike Committee whose activist colleagues are incarcerated in Myingyan.
“They have to sit in a stress position at least four times a day, and for two hours each time,” the source added.
Chair of the Monywa Student Union Zin Min Htet was reportedly beaten until he lost consciousness by prison officers because he refused to cut his hair or “sit in position” as was ordered by the authorities.
“He was hospitalised and I have been told that another political prisoner was beaten in a similar manner,” the strike committee member explained.
Another student leader, who is also a teacher taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement, was also said to have been beaten by some 15 prison staff, including a warden, for attempting to defend Zin Min Htet during the assault.
He suffered broken ribs and sustained injuries to his face, but was denied medical help and had his feet chained in punishment, according to sources close to him.
The Monywa People’s Strike Committee has submitted a request to the International Committee of the Red Cross to investigate the abuse of political prisoners in Myingyan Prison.
Wardens have also reportedly directed inmates serving as “leaders” of each ward to assault political prisoners sent from Monywa, and to do so with impunity.
A family member whose relative is a political prisoner incarcerated in Myingyan claimed that they were required to pay bribes in order to be granted visits with the detainee, or to gain an exemption from hard labour.
“Even elderly women are forced to do farmwork while it’s raining. There is even an elderly woman who can’t see well. They asked her to give them 20,000 kyat (around US$10) if she didn’t want to work,” the family member explained.
The inmates, largely convicted of incitement under Section 505 of the Penal Code, have also been threatened with additional transfers to another prison or into police custody for objecting to the abuse.
Hundreds of political detainees from Obo, Monywa, Kyaikmayaw and Hpa-an prisons have been transferred to Myingyan and Bago’s Thayawady prisons since early July.
