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Beaten in prison for marking Martyrs’ Day, two Burmese inmates die

August 14, 2023/in News

Other inmates, including female prisoners, who participated were placed in solitary confinement. Two Burmese political prisoners beaten by the ruling military junta’s prison authorities for participating in a ceremony marking Martyrs’ Day have died of their injuries, sources with knowledge of the situation said. They were among four inmates authorities physically assaulted in Tharrawaddy Prison in Bago […]

Fire station raid triggers junta attacks in Budalin Township

August 11, 2023/in News

The attacks come as resistance forces continue to hold the township’s fire department chief and others for helping the regime to target dissidents Regime forces have begun carrying out raids in Sagaing Region’s Budalin Township following the capture late last week of fire department staff and their families by local resistance groups. According to sources […]

Beaten in prison for marking Martyrs’ Day, two Burmese inmates die

August 14, 2023/in News

Fire station raid triggers junta attacks in Budalin Township

August 11, 2023/in News

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Beaten in prison for marking Martyrs’ Day, two Burmese inmates die

August 14, 2023/in News

Other inmates, including female prisoners, who participated were placed in solitary confinement.

Two Burmese political prisoners beaten by the ruling military junta’s prison authorities for participating in a ceremony marking Martyrs’ Day have died of their injuries, sources with knowledge of the situation said.

They were among four inmates authorities physically assaulted in Tharrawaddy Prison in Bago region on July 19 for marking the national holiday, RFA reported earlier.

The holiday marks the memory of renowned fallen figures within Burma’s independence movement, including Gen. Aung San, father of deposed and jailed former State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, seven other independence leaders, and one bodyguard who were gunned down by a group of armed men in uniform while holding a cabinet meeting in Yangon on July 19, 1947.

The holiday is marked annually by both pro-democracy groups and the military junta, which seized control of the elected government in a February 2021 coup and later sentenced Suu Kyi to 33 years in prison following trials that rights groups have condemned as shams.

The two inmates — Than Toe Aung, organizer of the National League for Democracy’s youth group in Yangon’s Thanlyin township, and Hla Soe from the town of Thone Sal in Bago’s Tharrawaddy (Tharyarwady) district — died after they were taken to the prison hospital, sources close to the prison told RFA on Monday.

The other two beaten inmates also received treatment in the prison hospital.

They were among the inmates in the men’s section of the detention center who held a saluting ceremony and discussion to commemorate Martyrs’ Day, while female prisoners in the women’s section wore black ribbons.

Solitary confinement

Because of these activities, prison guards placed 16 male inmates and 15 females to solitary confinement. Four of them were severely tortured and had required medical treatment in prison since July 21.

Prison authorities have not notified the victims’ families about their deaths, Nyo Tun, a former political prisoner and a friend of Than Toe Aung, told Radio Free Asia.

“The news that the two political prisoners have died came from not just one source, but from two or three from the prison,” he said.

Than Toe Aung, serving six years in prison for violating the Explosive Substances Act, died on Aug. 5 from severe head injuries.

Hla Soe, serving 20 years for violating the Counter-terrorism Law, died on Aug. 8.

Thaik Tun Oo of the Myanmar Political Prisoners Network said he was able to confirm the death of the two prisoners.

RFA could not reach the spokesman of Myanmar’s Prison Department for comment.

Prison guards have allowed some of the female inmates who participated in commemorating the holiday to return to their cells, while the situation of the men’s section remains unknown, said people close to the prison.

As of Aug. 14, more than 19,700 pro-democracy activists and civilians had been detained by authorities under the military junta since the February 2021 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Thailand-based rights group.

RFA News

Fire station raid triggers junta attacks in Budalin Township

August 11, 2023/in News

The attacks come as resistance forces continue to hold the township’s fire department chief and others for helping the regime to target dissidents

Regime forces have begun carrying out raids in Sagaing Region’s Budalin Township following the capture late last week of fire department staff and their families by local resistance groups.

According to sources in the area, a column of around 100 soldiers based in the Depayin Township village of Saing Pyin started attacking villages north of the town of Budalin early Thursday morning.

This column was later joined by another of around 70 troops based in Ku Taw, a village in western Budalin Township. At around 11am, the two columns converged in Kin San, a village some 20km north of Budalin, the sources said.

“The two columns combined to make one large force that I think will now start searching for the firefighters,” a local with ties to a resistance group told Myanmar Now.

The raids have forced hundreds of civilians from Kin San and other villages in the area to flee, according to residents.

Last Sunday, anti-regime groups stormed a fire station in downtown Budalin and detained 21 people, including the township’s fire department chief, 12 firefighters and other staff, and eight family members.

The resistance groups said they targeted the fire department because of its collaboration with the junta in sealing off dissidents’ houses and arresting civilians, and for its failure to help put out fires set by regime soldiers.

The groups say the detainees are being held in a safe place as they face prosecution for their role in supporting the junta.

There were also reports that the army column from Saing Pyin is holding around 30 local villagers hostage. Myanmar’s military routinely uses civilians as human shields in areas where it faces attack from resistance forces.

“Many of the hostages were middle-aged people just going about their business when they were taken away. Some of them didn’t seem to think that the army posed a threat to them,” said the source close to local resistance forces.

Budalin is less than 40km north of Monywa, Sagaing Region’s capital and largest city, and the seat of the junta’s Northwestern Regional Military Command.

In late July, three student leaders were tortured and killed following a raid on their office in western Budalin Township. Sources say they were repeatedly stabbed in the chest before being put to death.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, around 1.6 million people have been displaced from their homes in Myanmar since the military seized power in February 2021, with Sagaing Region alone accounting for more than half of this figure.

Myanmar Now News

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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.

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