Irrawaddy-Aug 17
Seventeen of the 31 political prisoners in Bago Region’s Tharyarwaddy Prison who were placed in solitary confinement after they marked Martyrs’ Day in July remain in solitary confinement, the Myanmar Political Prisoners Network said. Sixteen male prisoners and 15 female prisoners were placed in solitary confinement for allegedly organizing activities to mark Martyrs’ Day on July 19. Fourteen women were returned to their cells on August 13, but 16 men, and one woman—Shun Ei Phyu—remain in solitary confinement, said Ko Thaik Tun Oo, a representative of the Myanmar Political Prisoners Network. The prisoners are serving sentences ranging from three years to life imprisonment. The women prisoners range in age from their 20s to their 50s. Ko Thaik Tun Oo said rumors that two of the 31 political prisoners died from torture were false. The political prisoners who marked Martyrs’ Day were also tortured. Ko Than Toe Aung from the National League for Democracy’s chapter in Yangon’s Thanlyin Township sustained a life-threatening brain injury after being beaten, a source close to the prison’s staff said. He was arrested in 2021 in Thanlyin, and charged with incitement and illegal possession of explosives. He was given a six-year sentence and transferred from Insein Prison to Tharyarwaddy Prison last year. A total of 254 prisoners were set free from Tharyarwaddy Prison under the junta’s latest amnesty on August 1, but only a few of them were political prisoners, according to activists assisting political prisoners. Tharyarwaddy Prison holds about 2,000 political prisoners. It is notorious for assaults on and torture of political prisoners, former prisoners say. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/in-myanmar-prisons-showing-solidarity-with-martyrs-leads-to-solitary-confinement.html
