Mawlamyine, June (3)
Officials of the Prison Department verbally instructed their subordinates to force the political prisoners imprisoned for political charges in Mon State’s Kyaikmaraw central prison to do hard labor, sources familiar with the matter told Than Lwin Times.
Previously, the military council only applied forced labor to individuals imprisoned for other offenses, but it has now directed officials to practice forced labor on political prisoners as well.
The military council ordered that anyone imprisoned for political charges should be forced into hard labor and that those who refused would be repressed in various ways.
A person close to the matter said that political prisoners may therefore be subjected to more oppression.
In addition, he said, political prisoners currently have a break and a nap in the afternoon, but if they are forced to do hard labor, they will not be able to have such a break.
A source said that the military council ransacked the cells of political prisoners every day without any reason and oppressed them in Kyaikmaraw prison.
In addition, political prisoners are not provided with full health care and face various human rights violations, beatings, and torture.
In Mon State, political prisoners are held in Kyaikmaraw central prison and Thaton prison, and there are nearly 400 political prisoners, men and women, who have been arrested on political charges from various areas, including Yangon, Mandalay, Bago Regions, and Karen and Mon States.
News – Than Lwin Times
Photo: Shwe Win
Thanlwintimes