A special court inside Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison added two years to the prison sentence of prominent student leader Wai Yan Phyo Moe on Wednesday, according to his family.
The latest sentence, which will bring the total time he has to spend behind bars to seven years and two months, was for an incitement charge laid against him for his political activities prior to last year’s coup, a family member told Myanmar Now.
The All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) vice president, who was arrested in March of last year, has already been convicted twice on charges of incitement for his anti-coup activities, most recently in February.
“He’s in good health, but he didn’t make any comment. Now that they’ve handed down the final sentence, it will be more difficult to communicate with him. We don’t know what’s going to happen next, but most likely he will be transferred to another prison,” said a relative who attended the trial.
The relative, who did not want to be named, also expressed concern for the safety of Wai Yan Phyo Moe and other political prisoners.
“There are abuses happening every day in Myanmar’s prisons, so I would like to ask the international community to take serious action against those responsible. I also want to call for the immediate release of all unlawfully jailed political prisoners,” he said.
In September 2020, Wai Yan Phyo Moe and other ABFSU members were arrested for distributing pamphlets calling for the restoration of internet access in Rakhine State, where the military was waging war with the Arakan Army.
At the time, he was charged under Section 19 of the Peaceful Procession and Peaceful Assembly Law, for which he has received two one-month sentences since his arrest last year.
In April of last year, he and several other student activists detained at Insein Prison were placed in solitary confinement for a week for refusing to read the prison rules out loud.
He was also one of around 90 prisoners who were subjected to beatings and other severe punishment for taking part in a “Silent Strike” held nationwide last December.
He reportedly sustained serious injuries to his neck and ribs, but was denied medical care, according to prison sources.
