(1.8) Protests in Prison and Repression
Like demonstrations against the military dictatorship all over the country, demonstrations of political prisoners defying the dictatorship in prisons can be seen. When the third wave of Covid-19
hit in Myanmar during the mid of 2021, a protest occurred in Insein prison on July 23 since the
authorities ignored the worsening condition of prison inmates, the lack of health care for staff in the
prison department and excluding political prisoners among the prisoners granted amnesty by the
military council on June 30.
Three demands in that protest were (1) the unconditional release of all political prisoners; (2) access
to medical treatment and health care in prison, and (3) relaxation of overly strict prison rules and
sang “Thway Thitsar’’ (Faith of blood or Pledge in blood in Burmese). After the military council
troops beat up the political prisoners who participated in the protest, the central executive member
of All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), Ko Zaw Htet Naing (aka Sitt Naing), and 20
other political prisoners were put in solitary confinement.
After that, the protests in the prison happened gradually, and between February 1st and 6th, about
200 political prisoners participated in a hunger
strike which means they protested by not eating
the food provided by the prison. On February 12,
2021, political prisoners in Dawei Prison in the
Tanintharyi region went on a hunger strike for
the second time. Five political prisoners who had
been involved in the campaign of ‘222222’ in the
Pathein prison of the Irrawaddy region were put
in solitary confinement and tortured.
On April 3rd, due to shouting protests in Monywa prison, the prison authorities opened fire and
killed one political prisoner and five political
prisoners were injured. On May 8, 19 young people who protested in the Hpa-An prison, Karen
State were beaten and tortured after some prisoners were forcibly transferred to the prison. On
June 13, 2022, it is reported that 11 political prisoners staged a hunger strike inside Insein prison,
Yangon region and were beaten by the prison authorities and put in solitary confinement. A hunger strike is the highest level of demand when it
comes to the rights of prisoners in prisons.11
A protestor detained inside the prison truck after security forces cracked
down on a protest on Anawrahta road, Yangon in early March, 2021.
အင်းစိန်ထောင်အတွင်း နိုင်ငံရေး အကျဉ်းသား ၁၁ ဦး အစာငတ်ခံ ဆန္ဒပြသဖြင့်ရိုက်နက်ပြီး
ှ
တိုက်ပိတ်ခြင်းခံထားရ.
11
(13 June, 2022).
Ayeyarwaddy Times. https://www.facebook.com/508784185946254/posts/2202256276599028
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