The massive earthquake that struck central Myanmar on March 28 killed 30 prisoners including 20 political prisoners and wounded more than 280 others, according to seven organizations helping political prisoners.
The organizations—which include the Political Prisoners Network-Myanmar (PPNM), the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the Karenni Political Prisoners Association, the Women’s Organization of Political Prisoners and the Former Political Prisoners Association—released a joint statement on Sunday reporting on political prisoner casualties caused by the disaster.
Thousands of prisoners including hundreds of political prisoners arbitrarily jailed by the regime are being kept in Obo Prison, the second-largest prison in Myanmar after Yangon’s Insein Prison.
A number of poorly maintained prison buildings collapsed during the earthquake. The regime has imposed a news blackout on prisoner casualties at Obo Prison and prison authorities have threatened political prisoners with relocation, the groups said in the statement. According to the PPNM, the regime is planning to relocate political prisoners who refuse to stay in damaged buildings to Tharyarwaddy Prison in Bago Region. Such a relocation would make it difficult for relatives to send food and other necessities like medicines to the prisoners.
The groups also called on international rights groups and the United Nations to pay close attention to political detainees’ deteriorating conditions behind bars.
Political prisoners affected by the earthquake have received no assistance from local and international aid agencies, and those who were injured, whether physically or mentally, have been denied proper treatment inside the prison, the groups said.
Two women’s cell blocks, women’s hospital buildings and a men’s workshop reportedly collapsed at Obo Prison.
The death toll from the March 28 earthquake has risen to 3,735 as of Sunday, according to the junta. It said 5,108 people were injured and 120 remain missing.
