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Prison authorities withhold body of political prisoner who died in custody in Thayarwaddy

May 30, 2023/in News

Acquaintances questioned the prison authorities’ claim that the 25-year-old died of pneumonia and their reasons for failing to return his body to relatives Thayarwaddy Prison authorities have not given the body of a political prisoner to his family after telling them he died of pneumonia last week, leaving the true cause of death in doubt. […]

91-year-old woman killed in arson attack in Ye-U Township

May 29, 2023/in News

An elderly woman with limited mobility died in a fire started by junta troops after they triggered mines set out by resistance fighters After incurring several casualties from resistance forces’ explosive devices, a military column torched a village in Ye-U Township, Sagaing Region, killing a 91-year-old woman who was unable to escape the fire. At […]

Prison authorities withhold body of political prisoner who died in custody in Thayarwaddy

May 30, 2023/in News

91-year-old woman killed in arson attack in Ye-U Township

May 29, 2023/in News

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Prison authorities withhold body of political prisoner who died in custody in Thayarwaddy

May 30, 2023/in News

Acquaintances questioned the prison authorities’ claim that the 25-year-old died of pneumonia and their reasons for failing to return his body to relatives

Thayarwaddy Prison authorities have not given the body of a political prisoner to his family after telling them he died of pneumonia last week, leaving the true cause of death in doubt.

The deceased was 25-year-old Pyae Phyo Win, also known as Me Gyi, who was serving a seven-year sentence at the prison, located in Bago Region, for incitement under Section 505a of the Myanmar Penal Code and arson under Section 436. He reportedly died at around 3pm on May 21.

Pyae Phyo Win was arrested during the protests in February 2021 and was handed his sentence by a military court in South Dagon Township, Yangon. He was initially sent to Yangon’s Insein Prison but transferred to Thayarwaddy Prison in January of this year.

“[A comrade] in prison sent a letter with the news about him. The prison authorities also contacted his family on the same day the letter was received,” said Nyo Tun, a friend of Pyae Phyo Win.

Nyo Tun was also imprisoned for taking part in the protests but later received a pardon. Pyae Phyo Win and Nyo Tun had been held in the same ward at Insein Prison for a year before the former’s transfer to Thayarwaddy.

Two other sources close to the Thayarwaddy prison community confirmed authorities had not returned Pyae Phyo Win’s body to his family but told them he had died of pneumonia.

Another ex-political prisoner once held at Thayarwaddy, who requested anonymity, said Pyae Phyo Win was “very fit and active” and took care of his health, and that he had never known him to have problems with his lungs.

“We just saw him two weeks ago and he was looking healthy and fit despite the prison authorities saying he died of pneumonia. It’s impossible that he died of the disease within two weeks. They could just return the body to the family if they had no part in his death,” he said.

Nyo Tun also gave an opinion as to the real cause of his friend’s death.

“We are assuming that they took it too far during interrogation, which is not uncommon. I’ve heard prison authorities say that all it takes to kill someone is a pen and a paper,” Nyo Tun said.

Authorities removed a group of political prisoners from their cells for unknown reasons last week at Daik-U Prison, also located in Bago Region. According to a statement by the Bago Township People’s Defence Team, one of their former recruitment officers was among the Daik-U prisoners and died at the hands of the authorities on Friday.

The same week, inmates initiated a hunger strike at Mandalay Region’s Myingyan Prison in response to authorities’ separation of 15 political prisoners, one of whom later reportedly died from beatings.

Myanmar Now News

91-year-old woman killed in arson attack in Ye-U Township

May 29, 2023/in News

An elderly woman with limited mobility died in a fire started by junta troops after they triggered mines set out by resistance fighters

After incurring several casualties from resistance forces’ explosive devices, a military column torched a village in Ye-U Township, Sagaing Region, killing a 91-year-old woman who was unable to escape the fire.

At around 5am on Friday, the junta column, consisting of some 120 soldiers based in the town of Ye-U on the west bank of the Mu River, set off explosives laid by the local resistance teams near Hpein Kar village, three miles north of Ye-U.

The junta column then torched eight houses in Hpein Kar, and a 91-year-old woman named Thaung Kyi, unable to escape due to her age, died in the fire, according to a spokesperson of People’s Defence Comrade, a local defence team based in Ye-U Township.

“It wasn’t exactly a clash where we exchanged fire, so we still don’t know the exact number of casualties on their side. I think they must have suffered quite a number, as they started torching the nearby village immediately afterwards,” the spokesperson said.

A local man, who asked to remain anonymous, said a group of the village’s residents who had fled on Friday morning found Thaung Kyi’s body when they went back to clean the mess left by the military.

“The old lady could barely speak, let alone walk or run. Half of her body was burned. She was found inside her house after it was torched,” the local man said.

According to the local man, rather than set fires throughout the village, the military seemed to have selected which houses to burn based on where they believed resistance team members lived.

“The village doesn’t have a defence team of its own as it’s near the town, but there were some known resistance fighters there. They torched houses in three separate parts of the village. Nobody could go back to put out the fires as the entire population of western Ye-U Township had to flee. In a way, we were lucky only this much was destroyed and damaged,” the local man added.

The same military column also reportedly went on to raid nearby villages. According to local sources, junta troops arrived at Aung Thar Yar village, Ye-U Township, where pro-military Pyu Saw Htee militia forces are stationed, on Friday morning.

The military council has not issued any statements regarding these incidents.

The junta soldiers stationed in Ye-U township have carried out constant raids on nearby villages including Chan Thar, known for its large Catholic population, where they destroyed a high school building earlier this month.

Chan Thar also came under attack by the military repeatedly in 2022 and again in January 2023, at which time most of the village was destroyed, including the Assumption Church established in 1894.

Similarly, on May 9, a military airstrike damaged a high school run by the publicly mandated National Unity Government in Ye-U Township’s Htan Taw village, on a day when classes had coincidentally ended early and the local population only avoided fatalities by bare chance.

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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