A Licnese to Torture ? As the two ladies were denied medical treatment, other political prisoners staged a strike in prison, demanding the prison authorities to provide medical treatment to the two prisoners and refusing to cooperate with prison authorities. As a fallout, further 15 political prisoners aged between 21 and 25 were put in solitary confinement for 10 days with five being severely injured.51 In Mandalay’s Obo Prison, the prison authorities took 11 political prisoners from Dormitory Ward No.5 and forced them to take off pants in a public area on January 17, 2023 under the accusation that one of those political prisoners wore pants instead of prison uniform due to frigid climate. Four prisoners were sent back to the dormitory on the same day but the other seven were put in solitary confinement without receiving any medical treatment. Several political prisoners were also taken from prison to interrogation centers again for no reason during the imprisonment. According to independent media reports, nine young political prisoners were taken from Myingyan prison, another prison notorious for brutality, to Light Infantry Battalion 15 base in Myingyan on May 21 and May 22.52 Most of the political prisoners are taken at late evening or night time – the period the inmates are only taken from the jail for emergency health issues and prisoner evacuation according to the Prison Manual of Myanmar. U Sobhita aka Alink Kyal, a Buddhist monk well-known for his promotion of rights and equalities was arrested by the military junta on 1 February 2021 when the coup was attempted then sentenced to four years in prison. On 20 June 2023, he was due for release from Obo Prison in Mandalay. When the prison authorities and local lawyers confirmed U Sobhita was no longer in prison, his family heard nothing from him as of the second of July 2023, sparking concerns for his security.53 2.2.4 Torture and Ill-treatment in the Armed Resistance Active Area The forces of Myanmar military junta have always practiced acts of torture and illtreatment against civilian population in armed resistance active areas when its troops come through the villages. Prior to the 2021 attempted coup, civilian populations in nonBurman ethnic minority areas including Kachin State, Karen State, Rakhine State and Shan State, were always subjected to systematic and widespread persecutions and 32 51 “သာယာဝတီထောင်မှ နိုင်ကျဉ်း ၁၅ ဦးကို ရိုက်နှက်ပြီး ၁၀ ရက်ကြာ တိုက်ပိတ”် , Mizzima, April 5, 2023, https://www.mizzimaburmese.com/article/126570 (accessed June 10, 2023) 52 “Some political prisoners in Myingyan Prison are taken out and beaten up, and one person was reportedly killed”, MPA, May 22, 2023, https://mpapress.com/en/news/21608/ (accessed June 10, 2023) 53 “Fear Grow for Missing Myanmar Monk Who Criticized Junta Chief”, The Irrawaddy, June 28, 2023, https:// www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/fears-grow-for-missing-myanmar-monk-who-criticized-junta-chief.html (accessed July 18, 2023) Equality Myanmar