Myingyan Prison

Myingyan Prison in Myingyan District was known as the most infamous detention center among Burma's political prisoners for its atrocities from early 1990s to October 1999 when the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was granted an access to the prison.[1] Before the ICRC visit, several political prisoners lost their lives due to starvation and torture.[2]

Prisoners

Currently, a number of political prisoners including the ex-military intelligence officials are still serving long prison sentences and only three political detainees from the prison were released on April 17, 2011 when the new government granted an amnesty reducing the prison sentences by one year.[3]

Some of the most prominent political prisoners are KIA commando Zaw Saing, ex-Gen Khing Aung, ex-Gen Thein Swe and Myo Min Htike, a student activist serving a 53-year jail term since 1998.

Atrocities

One account describing prison practices include an order for a group of political prisoners to spend hours catching flies, shining the iron cell doors, and polishing the bare ground in their cells with the base of a small bottle.[4] There are also instances when prisoners were interrogated for months and being they are transferred to prison or isolation cells and subjected to repeated degradation.[4] The oppressive heat also often aggravate the passions inside the prison. For instance, it was said that parched criminals turn the prison into the worst of worst, smashing jailed politicians while wardens looked on laughing.[5] The violence was recently demonstrated in the case of a 2016 prison melee where inmates engaged in violent clash after one prisoner was ordered into solitary confinement.[6]

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References
  1. Swe Win (22 May 2009). "Trial by fire inside Insein Prison". Asia Times Online. Retrieved 2011-03-16.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-03-03. Retrieved 2011-05-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/myanmar-frees-more-than-14600-convicts-but-just-a-handful-of-political-prisoners/2011/05/17/AF1JNa5G_story.html?wprss=rss_world. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. Fink, Christina (2013). Living Silence in Burma: Surviving under Military Rule. London: Zed Books Ltd. pp. 161. ISBN 978-1856499255.
  5. Schrank, Delphine (2015). The Rebel of Rangoon: A Tale of Defiance and Deliverance in Burma. New York: Nation Books. ISBN 9781568584850.
  6. Lwin, Si Thu (October 12, 2016). "Warden suspended following Myingyan prison melee". The Myanmar Times. Retrieved 2018-09-03.

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