Carnage Follows Amnesty in Myanmar: Four Prisoners Shot Dead, 12 Injured

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Four inmates were shot dead and 12 more were injured after security forces opened fire on prisoners protesting inside Kachin State’s Myitkyina Prison on Thursday, Kachin media reported.

Prisoners were protesting the junta’s amnesty the day, which saw 3,303 prisoners released nationwide to mark Myanmar’s traditional New Year, before they were shot. Only 101 of those who received conditional amnesties on Wednesday were political prisoners.

Staff at Myitkyina Prison first used sling shots to fire projectiles at the prisoners protesting for fairness in the amnesty. The prisoners responded by tossing stones at prison staff, according to Kachin media reports that cited sources closed to the Myitkyina prison department.

Later, prison security forces fired bullets at the protesters, killing four prisoners and injuring 12 more, the Kachin News Group reported.

Prison staff transported the dead and wounded to a hospital on Thursday evening, reports said.

Prisoners are demanding that prison officials take action against security personnel who opened fire on them, for their rights to be protected and for prison amnesties to be fair, Kachin media reports say.

Prisoners are also demanding that no action be taken against those who were not killed in the crackdown.

On Wednesday, around 40 inmates from Myitkyina Prison were released in the amnesty.

They included former Kachin Baptist Convention president Dr. Hkalam Samson. Samson was, however, taken back into custody by junta troops before dawn on Thursday, He was rearrested along with his wife, an official and member of the Kachin Peace-talk Creation Group, according to sources close to the family.

Samson was arrested at Mandalay International Airport by junta troops in December 2022 while waiting to fly to Thailand for medical treatment. In a closed trial, he was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of unlawful association, state defamation and terrorism.

In late March, at least 17 inmates, mostly political prisoners, were injured during a brutal crackdown on unrest at Pyapon Prison in Ayeyarwady Region’s Pyapon Township, according to the Political Prisoners Network-Myanmar.

Irrawaddy News

Human Rights Situation weekly update (April 8 to 14, 2024)

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Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from April 8 to 14, 2024

Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in the Sagaing Region, Kayin State, Mon State, and Kachin State from April 8th to 14th. The head of the Prison who works under the Military threatened, tortured, and blackmailed the political prisoners in Loikaw Prison from Kayah State, Pathein Prison from Ayeyarwady Region, and Shwebo Prison from Sagaing Region and the political prisoners also needed medical treatment. The Military Junta also cut off the phone data and internet line in Myawaddy Township, Kayin State.

Over 10 civilians died, and almost 10 were injured by the Military’s heavy and light artillery attacks within a week. 4 underaged children died, and 2 were injured when the Military Junta committed abuses.

Close the Sky

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In Myanmar, the sky holds monsters that tear families apart.

Here is a video of Phyu Phyu Kyaw Thein and her team to support the campaign on jet fuel, don’t hesitate to share.

Gang Rape Victim Among 179 Rakhine Civilians Killed by Myanmar Junta in Four Months: ULA      

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Around 180 civilians have been killed and more than 460 wounded in arbitrary attacks by Myanmar junta troops in Rakhine State over the past four months, according to the United League of Arakan (ULA)’s Humanitarian and Development Coordination Office (HDCO).

The ethnic Arakan Army (AA), the armed wing of the ULA, launched a large-scale offensive against the junta in northern Rakhine and Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State on Nov. 13 last year, seizing around 170 junta bases including command centers, and occupying around 10 towns.

Junta forces have responded by indiscriminately targeting civilians with deadly violence in the conflict zone.

The HDCO said in its recent humanitarian situation report that 179 civilians – 115 males and 64 females – were killed between Nov. 13 and March 24. Another 468 residents were injured in junta attacks, the report said.

Moreover, regime forces arrested 471 civilians, 424 of them men, during the same period, it added.

Clashes between regime troops and the ethnic army over the past four months also displaced another 295,868 people from their homes.

The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Rakhine and Paletwa now exceeds 358,200, according to the report.

The HDCO said that around 80 percent of the IDP population requires emergency humanitarian assistance.

Meanwhile, displaced civilians are still being targeted by junta airstrikes, drone attacks, and artillery shelling even in the stable central belt of Rakhine, the office said.

On March 18, a junta aircraft bombed the Muslim village of Thada in Minbya Township, killing 21 villagers and injuring 25 others. The village had earlier been taken by the AA.

Regime forces killed a total of 30 civilians during clashes with the AA in Minbya Township from Nov. 13 to Jan. 23, the HDCO said.

Junta troops also killed the parents of a female villager in Minbya before gang-raping and then murdering her, according to the confession of a soldier detained by the AA.

Detained regime officers have also confessed to arbitrary killings of civilian detainees and destruction of infrastructure in the state.

Irrawaddy News

Human Rights Situation weekly update (April 1 to 7, 2024)

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Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from April 1 to 7, 2024

Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in the Sagaing Region, Kayin State, Kachin State, Chin State, Shan State, and Rakhine State from April 1st to 7th. The head of the Prison who works under the Military threatened and tortured the political prisoners in Pyapon Prison from Ayeyarwady Region, 18 political prisoners were sentenced to 6 months as additional punishment because they did not keep the “Prison discipline” according to prison authorities. 2 political prisoners from Insein Prison from Yangon Region also need medical care. Military Junta and Village administrators from the Yangon Region, Ayeyarwady Region, and Shan State, are blackmailing by using the Military Service Law.

Over 10 civilians died, and over 40 were injured by the Military’s heavy and light artillery attacks within a week. An underaged child died, and 12 were injured when the Military Junta committed abuses. A civilian also died in the land mine of Military Junta.