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
- MYANMAR: HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL CONDEMNS THE JUNTA, RESPONDS TO THE EARTHQUAKE, AND CALLS TO END SALE AND SUPPLY OF ARMS AND JET FUEL
- Myanmar military still bombing towns despite earthquake crisis, rebels say
- PRESS STATEMENT: CIVIL SOCIETY CALLS FOR DISASTER RELIEF FOR EARTHQUAKE SURVIVORS AND AFFECTED COMMUNITIES IN MYANMAR
- AAPP Launches its New Report on Justice, the Judiciary and the Weaponization of Law to Repress Civilians in Burma
- Junta offensives leave 4 dead, thousands displaced in northwest Myanmar
Myanmar junta seals off roads after hitting crowded concert with airstrike
/in NewsAs the death toll rises to as many as 70, roadblocks prevent the wounded from getting medical attention.
By RFA Burmese
2022.10.25
In this photo provided by a citizen journalist, a mass burial ground with newly placed gravemarkers for the victims of Sunday, Oct. 23 Myanmar junta airstrikes are seen in Hpakant township, northern Kachin State, Myanmar, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. Church members in Hpakant buried the victims close to the site of the airstrike on Tuesday since military junta was blocking the roads in and out of an area hit with airstrikes killing a large number of civilians.
Citizen journalist
UPDATED at 8:27 p.m. EDT on 10/25/2022
Myanmar’s military has blocked off roads leading in and out of concert grounds that its jets hit with an airstrike that killed as many as 70 people and wounded dozens more, many of whom were in desperate need of medical attention, sources in the country told Radio Free Asia.
“There are about 150 injured patients and 60-70 people are already dead,” said a resident, who requested anonymity for safety reasons. “I am very worried as we can’t give any medical treatment to the injured. We approached the junta blockage gates and asked if we could help but they wouldn’t let us through.”
In Sunday’s attack, fighter jets dropped bombs on crowds at a concert near Hpakant township, in Kachin state, celebrating the anniversary of the Kachin Independence Organization, or KIO, which has been advocating for greater autonomy for one of the largest ethnic groups in northeastern Myanmar.
Colonel Naw Bu, a KIO spokesperson, said the confirmed death toll stood at 62 as of Tuesday afternoon, with the same number wounded. But the death toll could rise if those badly wounded didn’t get medical attention.
“This is such an inhumane act. It was not in a battle,” he said. “The junta intentionally attacked us when we were all peacefully celebrating together with many civilians. It was cowardly and inhumane. This is definitely a war crime.”
It was the bloodiest airstrike since the military took control of the government in a February 2021 coup, which has led to months of fighting between the military and various rebel groups.
The junta was blocking access even to local aid groups, a relief worker told RFA’s Burmese service. “Most local aid groups from Hpakant went there but we couldn’t reach them,” he said.
Unable to get through, some rescue organizations have given up. … The injured patients are getting no medical treatment,” he said.
Retaliation for rebel attacks
In a statement, the junta’s foreign ministry said the area was a KIA base restricted to the public, not a concert site, and that the bombing was retaliation for on rebel “terrorists” for their attacks on security forces.
“Security forces had to retaliate in self-defence and to take necessary measures against armed terrorists,” it said. Reports that civilians and musicians were “fabricated,” the ministry statement said said.
But residents reached by RFA said most of the dead were civilians, and a few were members of the Kachin Independence Army.
The junta’s Minister of Social Affairs for Kachin State, Win Ye Tun, said he was not informed that troops were blocking the roads into the area. “We are arranging to help those injured and support the people there with necessities. It’s started,” he said. “But I don’t know about the rest of the story about the battles.”
“We have been picking up bodies and parts of bodies, so I think more than 70 are dead. Since [the injured] are trapped here, many are trying to give them medical treatment with what little supplies we have,” one resident said, asking not to be identified.
The Kachin Independence Organization said the junta’s attack was aimed at causing the maximum possible deaths as civilians were attending a music concert. The group said it will transform this “sorrowful incident into a revolutionary force” and accelerate the fight against the military dictatorship.
Several Kachin musicians were among the dead, including keyboard player Zakhon Zau Mum, also known as Ko King. The junta prevented his family from transporting his body back to his hometown, a family member told RFA.
“We can’t go get his body,” she said. “I’ve been told that they are preparing to bury all dead bodies in some village that we don’t know.”
International condemnation
On Monday, the U.N.’s Myanmar office called the attack an “excessive and disproportionate use of force by security forces against unarmed civilians.”
The embassies of the U.S., E.U., Norway, Switzerland and the U.K. issued a joint statement saying the attack showed the junta’s disregard for its obligation to protect civilians and respect the principles and rules of international humanitarian law.
The junta’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs pushed back against statements made by the U.S. and the U.N., saying they were one-sided. “Foreign governments and the United Nations are advised to verify facts before making statements,” it said.
Elaine Pearson, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch called the airstrike an “apparent violation of the laws of war, which prohibit attacks causing indiscriminate or disproportionate civilian harm.”
She accused the military junt of carrying out crimes against humanity and war crimes. “How high does the death count need to reach before governments around the world impose consequences that will impact the junta’s behavior?” she asked.
Pearson urged the U.N. Security Council to impose an arms embargo on the junta and to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court.
She also called on Southeast Asian leaders, who will meet at the ASEAN Summit in November in Cambodia to signal their support for such efforts.
ASEAN released a statement expressing its concern about the escalation of violence in Myanmar, including against civilians.
“We, therefore, strongly urge utmost restraint and immediate cessation of violence,” it readm adding that all concerned parties should engage in “constructive dialogue” to find a peaceful solution.
The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar, a group of independent international experts, condemned the airstrike, with former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee calling it “horrific.”
“Junta fighter jets deliberately attacked a nighttime music concert attended by hundreds of civilians knowing it would likely cause catastrophic loss of life, an act that constitutes a war crime,” Lee said. “When will the international community, including the UN and ASEAN, stand with the people of Myanmar and support the democratic revolution?”
Killing civilians in an airstrike was the “ultimate act of junta cowardice and inhumanity,” former chair of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, Marzuki Darusman, said.
“Sadly, it is entirely consistent with the campaign of scorched-earth that the Myanmar military has been waging against the peoples of Myanmar, including the Kachin, with impunity not just for the last 20 months but for decades,” said Darusman.
Translated by Myo Min Aung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Update: Adds reaction from sources within the blocked off area as well as responses from the junta, the Kachin Independence Organization and the international community.
RFA News
Junta Airstrike on Hpa Kant Music Concert is an Atrocity
/in Member statementsOctober 25, 2022
On October 23, a music concert was held in Hpakant, Kachin State, as an early celebration of the 62nd anniversary of the founding of Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).
In the evening of the commemoration event, the armed wing of the junta forces perpetrated an aerial bombardment with fighter planes, causing the death and injury of many innocent civilians. More than 60 civilians, including ethnic Kachin, are known to have been killed, whilst more than 100 others were injured in the airstrike, based on reports so far.
This atrocious and intentional terror attack targeted a crowd of people during a peaceful gathering at a ceremony, and constitutes a crime against humanity and war crime of the junta.
The armed wing of the junta subsequently blocked local streets to obstruct those seeking treatment for the injured, a blatant violation of the right to life in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This atrocity demonstrated their intent to make the population submit to military dictatorship through using weapons to sadistically target and indiscriminately kill. The military junta considers the whole of Burma as their enemy.
We, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, strongly condemn any act of terror committed by the junta. We implore international actors to take immediate and effective action – to mitigate the armed wing of the junta’s extrajudicial killings, destruction of innocent livelihoods and homes, on daily basis.
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
OPEN LETTER FROM CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS CONCERNING ASEAN’S APPROACH TO THE ONGOING POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN MYANMAR
/in Member statements, Press Releases and StatementsTo: ASEAN Leaders
H.E. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, Prime Minister of Brunei Darussalam
H.E. Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia
H.E. Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia
H.E. Thongloun Sisoulith, Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
H.E. Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob, Prime Minister of Malaysia
H.E. Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, Jr., President of the Republic of the Philippines
H.E. Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore
H.E. Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand
H.E. Phạm Minh Chính, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
25 October 2022
Subject: Open letter from civil society organizations concerning ASEAN’s approach to the ongoing political, human rights and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar
Your Excellencies,
We, the 457 undersigned Myanmar, regional and international civil society organizations, call on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (‘ASEAN’) to cease inviting all political and non-political representatives of the Myanmar military junta to all summits and meetings, and revise the mandate of the Special Envoy to Myanmar. We further call on ASEAN under the Indonesian Chairship, as a regional bloc and as individual states, to move beyond the failed Five-Point Consensus (‘5PC’), enable effective humanitarian assistance, and publicly recognize the National Unity Government.
For the past 20 months since the failed coup, ASEAN has been largely ineffective in responding to the escalating crisis in Myanmar. ASEAN’s “dialogue” demonstrates a selective approach to the 5PC and yields no results to stop the ongoing crisis in Myanmar. Despite being put on notice for non-compliance with the 5PC in a joint communique in August 2022, the junta has continued committing atrocity crimes against the Myanmar people. Just one month after the warning, the junta’s airstrikes on a school in Sagaing Region killed 11 children.
The exclusion of the junta from ASEAN Summits in October 2021 and November 2022 was a step in the right direction. We also note positive stances taken by Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore, and welcome the bloc’s statement in July 2022. Nevertheless, any engagement with the junta is in breach of the ASEAN Charter. The crimes that are being committed by the Myanmar military amount to acts of a terrorist organization under international legal definitions and Myanmar’s domestic laws. The Myanmar military stands accused of atrocity crimes at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, and under a universal jurisdiction case in Argentina. We are alarmed that this illegal entity holds sway in ASEAN’s actions.
Mandate of Special Envoy
Since the establishment of the desultory 5PC, the mandate of the ASEAN Special Envoy (‘SE’) has proven unsuccessful in resolving, let alone positively impacting, the worsening crisis in Myanmar. Several efforts by the SE, and by extension of ASEAN, to initiate “dialogues” and “visits” to the military junta have not actualized in any meaningful progress. Instead, such actions have condoned and emboldened the illegal junta to continue its heinous crimes with blanket impunity.
Evident in the visits by the second SE, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, in March and June 2022, the junta has been reassured of ASEAN’s inaction and launched intense aerial attacks against civilians and spiked the death toll of children. State Counsellor, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was repeatedly given additional prison sentences, along with her economic adviser, Sean Turnell. It is a shame that, per the junta’s disapproval, in none of the visits was the SE allowed access to the State Counsellor and other arbitrarily detained parliamentarians elected in the November 2020 general elections. The SE has further failed to meet with the Acting President, Prime Minister or other officials of the National Unity Government (‘NUG’), the legitimate government of Myanmar, key ethnic revolutionary organizations (‘EROs’) and civil society organizations (‘CSOs’).
The junta was emboldened to carry out extrajudicial executions of four political activists in July despite the appeal from ASEAN Chair, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. The executions clearly demonstrated, as Singapore’s Foreign Minister put it, “the high level of cynicism or even outright disrespect for the role of ASEAN”. We are deeply disappointed that such a reprehensible action, which may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, was met with no more than empty condemnation.
These imprudent engagements of the SE further caused extensive damage to the struggle of Myanmar people to end military tyranny and establish a federal democracy. Such actions stand in contrast to the 5PC’s promise to strive for a solution “in the interests of the people”. Furthermore, the vague nature of the SE mandate has so far created public confusion of whether the mandate is a political mediator, interlocutor or focused on humanitarian delivery.
Humanitarian Aid and AHA Centre
ASEAN’s ongoing cooperation and engagement with the military junta to deliver humanitarian aid through the bloc’s Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (‘AHA Centre’) has only exacerbated the humanitarian crisis. The AHA Centre, designed to tackle natural disasters, is ill-equipped to deal with a multi-dimensional political crisis. With its operating procedures, the Centre relies on the junta for access and is dictated by a board consisting of the junta’s Myanmar Task Force. Aid is being weaponized by the very perpetrators of crimes against humanity and war crimes that led to the ongoing humanitarian crisis, and of the genocide of the Rohingya in 2017. The former director of the AHA Centre stated that the junta “is unwilling to provide access to the people in line with humanitarian principles,” and called on ASEAN to remove the junta as aid partner.
Local humanitarian actors and CSOs have been effectively delivering the much-needed humanitarian assistance to communities since the failed coup, along with the NUG and EROs. Border-based CSOs have been indispensable in assisting groups in hardest-to-reach areas with financial and subsistence support. The NUG provided 2.73 billion Myanmar Kyat to internally displaced people and the Civil Disobedience Movement in a year. Meanwhile, international humanitarian organizations, UN agencies and the AHA Centre have been largely unable to reach those most in need. In his letter to the ASEAN Secretary-General, the Malaysian Foreign Minister noted that “the special [humanitarian] task force formed by ASEAN together with the junta is not working well”. With the lack of trust in the junta as a result of its ongoing campaign of terror and weaponization of aid, local aid providers are increasingly unwilling to work with the junta or organizations linked to it.
Recommendations
While Myanmar people themselves are sacrificing their lives, livelihoods and futures for the future of their young generations, ASEAN must take concrete actions to end all inhumane acts committed by the military junta. We appeal to the Indonesian President, set to assume ASEAN Chairship in 2023, to support the will of the Myanmar people.
It is imperative that ASEAN no longer holds official meetings with the junta or recognizes it and its representatives as the government of Myanmar. The bloc must bar all junta representatives, political and non-political, from all ASEAN summits and meetings, including the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) and the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). Such disengagement must include ending defense ties with the Myanmar junta. ASEAN must officially recognize the NUG, allowing its delegation to the bloc and member states.
We strongly urge ASEAN to move beyond the 5PC and develop a plan that includes clear benchmarks and indicators of success to realistically measure progress. The plan must be based on extensive consultation with the NUG, the National Unity Consultative Council (‘NUCC’), EROs and CSOs. ASEAN must establish actionable punitive measures upon the junta’s non-compliance with the 5PC to cease the ongoing violence.
At the November Summit, we also call on ASEAN to amend the mandate of the SE to be a full-time position from 2023 onwards with a three-year term, appointed by the ASEAN Chair, and to represent and be accountable to ASEAN as a whole. The SE must have clear terms of reference not for peace-brokering, but be grounded in human rights principles, justice and accountability, and the will of the Myanmar people. The mandate must hold authority and independence to take actions unencumbered by the delay of infrequent ASEAN high-level meetings. The mandate must immediately open formal communications and engage with the NUG, the NUCC, EROs, CSOs and the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw.
On humanitarian aid, ASEAN must stop partnering with the junta and recognize that the AHA Centre cannot address the humanitarian crisis. We recommend to ASEAN to take a solidarity-based approach to facilitate cross-border aid by working in partnership with local humanitarian actors, the NUG and EROs. ASEAN members must also accept and provide protection for asylum seekers from Myanmar. All regional efforts must be based on humanitarian principles of do-no-harm, humanity and impartiality, and the agency of displaced communities.
The political, human rights and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar is not merely an “internal affair,” but a threat to regional security and stability which ASEAN vowed to protect. Without swift action, Myanmar’s neighboring countries and ASEAN states will continue to face the influx of refugees, loss of commercial interests and irreparable reputational damage. We believe that ASEAN’s credibility depends on its ability to act in a timely manner to effectively prevent the junta’s violence and destruction spilling over and destabilizing the entire region.
We CSOs remain at your disposal to ensure the bloc’s effective action in addressing the needs of Myanmar people in line with their will and aspirations.
For more information, please contact:
Signed by 457 organizations including 297 organizations who have chosen not to disclose their name:
Additional 297 organizations have chosen not to disclose their name.
Download PDF in English I Burmese
Regime forces attacked with drones after decapitating teacher
/in NewsThe junta troops responsible for murdering the teacher and two others in Magway’s Pauk Township on Monday also burned down an entire village late last week
A resistance group says that it used drones to launch two attacks on a junta column that decapitated a teacher and killed two others in Magway Region’s Pauk Township earlier this week.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Anonymous Special Task Force said that it dropped three explosives on around 80 troops stationed on a hill near Hpayar Taung, a village located about 15km southeast of the town of Pauk, the day before.
An officer of the group also claimed that a second attack was carried out against a junta base in Yae Pyar, a village about 2km south of Hpayar Taung, later the same day.
“We weren’t sure how many casualties there were from the first attack, so we decided to go after the base in Yae Pyar as well,” he told Myanmar Now.
The troops stationed near Hpayar Taung have reportedly been raiding villages in southern Pauk Township since October 12. On Monday, they targeted the village of Kyar Pyit Kan, where they abducted three men, including a teacher taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).
Payataung_pauk.jpg
Hpayar Taung, where junta troops were attacked on October 19 after beheading CDM teacher Saw Moe Tun (Pyae Phyo Aung)
According to locals, the teacher, 46-year-old Saw Moe Tun, taught mathematics at a school run by the National Unity Government (NUG) and was also on its township education committee.
“They captured him and took him to Taung Myint, another village near here. That’s where they killed him, right in front of the school. They cut three fingers off of his right hand and also beheaded him. They hung his head at the entrance to the school,” said a local who did not want to be named.
Another person living in the area confirmed this report, and said that the soldiers also set fire to the school.
A photo of the victim’s head hanging from a school door, with his headless body lying nearby on the ground, has circulated widely on social media.
The other two men, who have yet to be identified, were also killed, local sources said.
According to local groups, around 8,000 civilians from some 13 villages have been displaced by the recent junta raids in Pauk Township.
Last Thursday, a day after the attacks began, soldiers burned down the entire village of Thee Chauk, the Anonymous Special Task Force officer told Myanmar Now.
The village, which is about 20km west of Hpayar Taung, where the junta troops were stationed, had around 250 households, he said. Before setting fire to most of the houses there, the regime forces shelled and ransacked the village, he added.
On Tuesday, the Basic Education General Strike Committee and Basic Education Workers Union-Strike Committee released statements strongly condemning the military’s brutal killing of Saw Moe Tun.
Both groups also noted that on the same day that Saw Moe Tun was murdered, Ye Thiha, a middle school headmaster who was also taking part in the CDM, was fatally stabbed seven times at his home in Ayeyarwady Region’s Zalun Township.
The groups called on the public, as well as the NUG, to protect teachers and others taking part in the CDM.
Myanmar Now News
Outgunned resistance forces kill four police in Natmauk village
/in NewsMore than 150 people were forcibly detained following the incident, which occurred after local defence team members encountered a group of police on patrol
A group of nine local defence team members killed four police officers during a half-hour clash in Magway Region’s Natmauk Township on Sunday, according to resistance sources.
The incident occurred at around 9pm in Hpat Taw Yae, a village about 25km east of the town of Natmauk, after the defence team members encountered eight officers on patrol.
The regime forces, who may have included some soldiers, were fully armed, while the defence team members only had a pistol, a rifle, and several swords between them, according to a member of one of the groups involved in the clash.
“The guys with the guns fired back at the police, and when more junta personnel arrived on motorcycles, we started attacking them with swords,” said Garuda Force officer Bo Aung Din.
Outgunned, the defence team members were forced to retreat, but not before seizing the weapons of two of the deceased officers.
“We only had 14 bullets, so we saved the last one to go back and grab as many guns as we could get. But we only managed to get two,” said Bo Aung Din.
He added that one member of his group was shot in the thigh and back while retrieving the guns, but was not seriously injured.
According to Htan Htut, the information officer for the Beikthano People’s Defence Force (PDF), which also took part in the confrontation, three of the officers were killed in the initial exchange of fire, while the fourth died while attempting to flee.
“Three of them died right away, and the other one was killed while trying to get to his motorcycle,” he said.
Natmauk_phattawyay_2_18.10.Jpeg
Guns seized from police officers killed by a local defence team in the village of Hpat Taw Yae on October 16 (Supplied)
Residents of Hpat Taw Yae told Myanmar Now that a column of around 60 junta soldiers arrived in the village about two hours after the clash and arrested more than 150 people.
While some 70 women were released the following day, all of the men who were detained remain in custody and have been subjected to beatings, the locals said.
They added that the regime forces had even arrested 14-year-old seventh graders and also set fire to five houses in the village.
Residents of several neighbouring villages, including Thapoot Pin, Kyauk Oh, and Kantha, have also reportedly been displaced since the arrival of the junta troops in Hpat Taw Yae.
Natmauk Township is located east of the Ayeyarwady River, in an area that is mostly flat, open land. Unlike the heavily wooded western side of the river, where most resistance groups in Magway Region are based, it offers few natural hiding places.
The town is also famous as the birthplace of independence hero Aung San, who is also the father of Myanmar’s ousted civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myanmar Now News
Bomb blasts, gunfire at Myanmar’s biggest prison kills eight, including guards
/in NewsPrison staff and civilians are reportedly among those killed after shots are allegedly fired from a watchtower at Yangon’s Insein Prison following a parcel bomb attack
At least eight people were killed and 15 injured after Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison was hit with two explosions and a shooting on Wednesday morning, according to sources at the site.
At around 9:40am, two parcel bombs went off near the main entrance of the prison: one detonated in a building where staff receive care packages for prisoners and another one went off outside.
An eyewitness told Myanmar Now that a number of civilians were present when the explosions occurred, as they were at the prison to deliver food and other necessities to their incarcerated relatives.
Following the explosions, gunshots were fired from a prison watchtower—presumably by prison guards or junta troops—causing the people at the location to scatter.
Three of those killed in the attack were prison staff and five were civilians, said a source within the police force. At least 15 others were injured, the majority of whom were members of the public, he added.
The Insein Prison staff killed in the attack were identified as Kyaw Zin Oo, Khin Moe Wai and Poe Ei Zan.
Among the civilian casualties was the mother of incarcerated student activist Lin Htet Naing, commonly known as James, who was at the prison to deliver a care package for her son.
Further information about the remaining victims was not known at the time of the reporting.
The eyewitness claimed that the casualties were not caused by the bomb blasts but by the subsequent shooting from the watchtower.
“I am not sure if the shooters were soldiers or employees at the prison. They opened fire indiscriminately from a watchtower opposite the explosion site. There were around 10 rounds fired, and those hit people, too,” she told Myanmar Now.
She said that she saw five people fall and that they were carried away. Myanmar Now is unable to independently verify her account of the incident.
All court hearings inside the Insein Prison were subsequently cancelled for the day, according to the relative of a political prisoner who was at the location at the time of the attack.
No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, and Myanmar’s military council had not issued a statement on the incident at the time of reporting.
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, in-person family visits with prisoners across the country have been suspended. The ban remains in place at the time of reporting, widely seen as a measure imposed by the military to cut off communications between Myanmar’s thousands of political prisoners and the outside world. Those detained on politically motivated charges have only been able to communicate with relatives through the lawyers representing them.
Junta authorities only allow prisoners access to weekly or fortnightly parcel deliveries from family members. This delivery of food and other basic supplies remains critical to the survival of those incarcerated under the military regime.
Myanmar Now News