Yangon: Two more political prisoners die in prison from lack of healthcare
Two prisoners died from lack of healthcare on 19 July in prisons run by Myanmar’s military regime: 26-year-old activist Ma Wut Yi Aung, tortured after her arrest, and Ko Pyae Sone Aung, a member of the National League for Democracy. Their death extends a long list of victims of the junta’s prison system, while leader Aung San Suu Kyi is also in poor health after more than four years in prison.
Yangon (AsiaNews) – Two political prisoners in Myanmar have died from lack of proper medical care in Myanmar’s prisons: Ma Wut Yi Aung, a 26-year-old activist, and Ko Pyae Sone Aung, a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the governing party before the 2021 military coup.
NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, 80, has also been in prison for more than four years despite her poor health.
According to the Political Prisoners Network-Myanmar (PPNM), Ma Wut Yi Aung died in Insein Prison in Yangon from severe head injuries while she was being tortured during interrogation. Arrested on 14 September 2021, she had been given a seven-year custodial sentence.
A statement by the Dagon University Students' Union, of which she was an executive member, reported that the activist suffered from fainting spells, seizures, and cardiac arrest due to the injuries she sustained.
Despite her family's repeated requests for transfer to an external hospital, prison authorities consistently denied her any treatment outside the prison, where she died at around 9:30 pm on Saturday, 19 July.
The PPNM reported the death of Ko Pyae Sone Aung on the same day. The 44-year-old was held at the Thaton Prison. Arrested in January 2022, he had been sentenced to six years for sedition and terrorism. He suffered from hypertension, diabetes, and serious cardiovascular problems, but did not receive adequate medical care.
From January until 8 July of this year, at least 14 political prisoners have died in Myanmar from lack of care, according to the network.
The Irrawaddy reported that, on 10 July, writer Maung Tha Cho and anti-regime Buddhist monk Shwe Nya Wa Sayada, two former political prisoners, also died, their health impacted by torture and medical negligence while in detention.
Despite appeals from human rights organisations, political prisoners in Myanmar continue to be subjected to torture and deprived of basic medical care.
Requests for outside hospital treatment, even in the most serious cases, are often rejected, including those for NLD leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is serving a 27-year sentence handed down at a politically motivated trial.
Her health is also a cause for concern. She suffers from hypertension and spells of dizziness and has so far received only limited treatment, while her family and lawyers have not been allowed to meet her.
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17/03/2021 13:08
22/10/2021 12:23
