Junta arrests principal of private high school in Sagaing

/in

The school was also shuttered, with the junta posting a sign on the building suggesting that it had ties to ‘terrorist organisations’ 

The military arrested the 57-year-old principal of a private school in Sagaing town last week and shut down the institution the following day, Myanmar Now has learned. 

Htar Htar Oo was taken into junta custody on September 21. The next day junta personnel posted a sign on the entrance of the Yinthway Yadanar private high school in Thazi ward, alleging that it had had ties to organisations designated by the military council as terrorist groups. 

Children were reportedly attending classes at the school at the time it was sealed off. 

At the time of reporting, no official information had been released about Htar Htar’s Oo’s detention and the shuttering of her school, nor is it known under what legal statute she is being detained. However, pro-junta Telegram channels and social media pages claimed that evidence had been found that the principal had also taught at the Sagaing Federal School, which is run by the publicly mandated National Unity Government. 

A source close to Htar Htar Oo’s family denied these allegations. 

The individual described the principal as “a very generous and loving person to both the children and the staff members at her school.”

A Sagaing local said that several family members were also arrested alongside the principal, including her adult children and daughter-in-law, but were released the following morning while Htar Htar Oo continued to be held. 

In August, the junta also sealed off the Golden Gate private high school in downtown Mandalay and arrested the school’s founder and management team. 

The military has detained thousands of people nationwide suspected of having connections to the armed anti-junta resistance groups that formed following the February 2021 coup, filing criminal charges against them and often seizing their homes and businesses. 

According to the monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 19,620 people were in military custody at the time of reporting. 

Myanmar Now News

Young political prisoner dies of heart attack in Myanmar prison

/in

The 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

Myanmar’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 ,

Human 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.

Military raids villages in Sagaing following murder of local junta police official

/in

At 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 ,

Human 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.