ND Burma
ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.
Recent Posts
- Junta targeting rebel-held areas in northern Myanmar with airstrikes and artillery
- Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 8 to 14, 2024)
- Myanmar National Organizing Committee for ACSC/APF ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum 2024
- Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 1 to 7, 2024)
- Red Cross chief calls for greater aid access after visit to Myanmar
Young political prisoner dies of heart attack in Myanmar prison
/in NewsThe man experienced health problems after being tortured but was not treated.
A 21-year-old political prisoner who was sentenced to a long term in Myanmar’s Insein Prison died of a heart attack at the weekend, sources close to the family told Radio Free Asia on Monday.
The prison authorities informed family members about the death of Min Hein Khant on Sunday evening and they went to the Yangon prison to see the body.
A source close to the family said Min Hein Khant was in good health before his arrest, but he was severely tortured during interrogation and did get treated for heart disease in prison.
“I found out that he had a heart attack in May,” said the source.
“He fell down and went to prison hospital. There, the doctors checked and found out that he had a heart attack but he was told to see a specialist only after he was released from prison. There was nothing in the prison.
“He fainted once again in August and I heard that he was fine yesterday, but he died after fainting. It happened because he could not have proper medical treatment.”
Min Hein Khant was a member of Pazundaung and Botahtaung townships’ Youth Strike Committee and was arrested on Nov. 1, 2021.
He was sentenced to 27 years in prison under the Explosive Substances Act.
RFA phoned the junta’s prison department about his death but no one answered.
RFA News
Myanmar Junta Massacres Sagaing Resistance Fighters
/in NewsMyanmar’s junta killed 24 Sagaing Region resistance fighters and two civilian administrators on Friday evening, according to rebel groups.
Troops stationed at the entrance of Myaung Township reportedly surrounded resistance fighters from the Chay Yar Taw People’s Defense Force (PDF) and other PDFs under the civilian National Unity Government.
“They were surrounded and trapped while they were moving from Myinmu Township to Myaung,” said Amara of the Civilian Defense and Security Organization of Myaung.
Residents said the bodies of 24 resistance fighters and two Myinmu Township Administration staff were found near Chay Yar Taw village on the Myinmu-Myaung road on Saturday.
The fighters were armed but they lacked automatic rifles and sufficient ammunition and surrendered to the surrounding force, the Myaung groups said.
Three of those seized managed to escape, they said.
Amara expressed the group’s sadness for the loss and called on other groups to consider their safety with similar massacres being reported in the area.
She said resistance groups were clearly being poorly led with unclear chains of command.
“These sad incidents have happened because each group is acting in an unruly manner. Who shall take responsibility for these losses?” she asked.
Further fighting with the junta was reported on Saturday with resistance groups entering Myaung Township.
Irrawaddy News
Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 15 to 21, 2023)
/in HR Situation, NewsHuman Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Sep 15 to 21, 2023
Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in Sagaing and Mandalay Region from September 15th to 21st. Over 130 civilians including women from Mandalay, Sagaing, Tanintharyi Region and Kachin State were arrested and used as human shields. Military Junta burnt and killed a civilian from Shweku Township, Kachin State. The families of political prisoners were extorted by prison authorities in Pathein Prison, Ayeyarwady Region.
18 Civilians died and over 29 were injured by the heavy and light artillery attacks of the Military Junta. They arrested around 50 civilians and killed 36 within a week. An underage child died and other 3 were injured by the Military junta committed violations.
Infogram
Military raids villages in Sagaing following murder of local junta police official
/in NewsAt least seven civilians were killed during military raids in Sagaing Township, located in the region by the same name, after a junta airport policeman and his wife were recently murdered in the area.
The police sub-inspector from Mandalay’s Tada-U Airport Than Min Soe and his wife, Thuzar Tun, were reportedly shot dead by a group of gunmen on the morning of September 13 in Sagaing town. The couple’s children, aged 9 and 2 and who were with them at the time, were said to have been spared.
“They were shot dead on their way back from paying respect to their parents,” a Sagaing Township local said. “They were walking towards their car which was parked in the Shwe Bon Thar monastery compound when they were attacked. I heard that the children survived.”
After the incident and from their bases in the villages of Nyaung Kone and Thalun Phyu and the Shwe Bon Thar monastery, the military started launching massive assaults in the area. They also blocked exits of villages in western Sagaing Township in order to search and detain residents.
More than 3,000 people fled their homes, seeking shelter in Sagaing town and in monasteries.
“They arrested some 10 men that were sitting inside a tea shop near Ngar Htet Gyi Pagoda,” a local source said. “Some 40 people from several villages including Thalun Phyu were arrested and seven were also killed.”
The troops were said to be from Light Infantry Division 33 in Sagaing, and numbered around 100.
Pro-junta Telegram channels reported that a drone and handmade rifle, weapons commonly used by resistance forces, were seized during searches of Thalun Phyu and other nearby communities.
Myanmar army soldiers also overran a resistance camp near the village of Te Gyi, more than 5km southwest of Sagaing town, on Monday morning, killing two guerrilla fighters, according to a man from the area, who added that some weapons were also confiscated.
That afternoon, the same troops torched homes in Te Gyi and detained two residents who were later killed, according to the local man. The identities of the victims could not be confirmed at the time of reporting.
The same military-aligned Telegram channels said that there were two casualties on the side of the resistance during the camp raid, that weapons were seized, but there was no mention of the slain civilians in Te Gyi.
Some 14 more villagers were reportedly detained on Monday, seven from the sites of the raids and seven others who were sheltering in Sagaing town after fleeing their homes, according to locals.
Myanmar Now News
Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 8 to 14, 2023)
/in HR Situation, NewsHuman Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Sep 8 to 14, 2023
Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in Shan State, Sagaing Region, and Bago Region from September 8th to 14th. The local civilians were arrested and used as human shields in Mandalay Region and Kachin State. A woman from Mogaung was arrested, tortured, and killed under interrogation by the Junta in Kachin State. Military Junta’s navy attacked with heavy and light artillery the villages along the river in Thabeikkyin Township, Mandalay Region including Salingyi Township and Kani Township from Sagaing Region.
About 13 civilians died and over 19 were injured by the Military Junta Soldiers’ light and heavy artillery attacks. Over 70 civilians were arrested within a week. 3 underaged children died by the Military Junta Soldiers’ Human Right Abuses and Violations.
Infogram
Monywa Prison authorities agree to hunger strike participants’ demands
/in NewsWhile prison administrators promised adequate medical treatment following negotiations, the current health status of the striking inmates—who refused food for five days—is unconfirmed
After opening negotiations with political prisoners on a hunger strike on Wednesday, authorities at Sagaing Region’s Monywa Prison have agreed to meet their demands, according to sources connected to the prison.
Some 50 political prisoners including Wai Moe Naing, leader of the Monywa People’s Strike Committee, initiated a hunger strike on September 9.
On the fifth day of the strike authorities including the prison superintendent came to the participants to negotiate, according to Shin Thant, one of the Monywa People’s Strike Committee’s senior members.
“I was told that the prison complied with all of the requests including those about care packages, medical care, and return of the inmates’ personal items,” Shin Thant said.
Thaik Tun Oo of the Political Prisoners Network confirmed he had the same information about the agreement between the prison authorities and strike participants.
The current health status of the prisoners participating in the strike, who refused food for five days, is still unknown.
The hunger strike started after a “special search force,” made up of members of the military as well as junta police, fire department, and administrative personnel, inspected Monywa Prison on September 8 and confiscated personal items such as books, clothes, and appliances from the inmates.
Initially, 14 participants demanded the return of the confiscated items, permission to receive care packages from relatives outside the prison, and adequate medical care for sick and injured inmates. Wai Moe Naing was among more than 30 additional political prisoners to join the strike after authorities ignored these demands.
Authorities denied medical treatment to three of the participants after they fainted from malnourishment during the strike, and reportedly put Wai Moe Naing in solitary confinement after he joined.
Wai Moe Naing is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence following his arrest in April 2021 while participating in protests against the coup regime.
Political prisoners face exceptionally harsh treatment in Myanmar’s prisons.
In one incident in December 2021, authorities at Yangon’s Insein Prison brutally beat, and later denied medical treatment, to over 80 prisoners for singing songs associated with the resistance and refusing to leave their cells in solidarity with a “Silent Strike” taking place throughout Myanmar that day.
In June and July of 2023, several political prisoners removed from their cells in Mandalay and Bago regions, purportedly for transfers to other prisons, later proved to have been executed by prison authorities.
Myanmar Now News