Women political prisoners are being subjected to cruel, degrading and illegal treatment by female guards at Maubin Township Prison in Ayeyarwady Region, former inmates and those helping and monitoring political prisoners say.
The prison’s female governor and staff force female political prisoners to strip naked before going to and returning from court hearings, purportedly to check if they are hiding letters, former inmates said. The strip searches are done outside cells in areas where other prisoners can observe them, they said, adding that prison staff use crude language during the strip searches.
Political prisoners’ breasts and buttocks are groped, and fingers are inserted into their vaginas and anuses, during the strip searches, according to former inmates and the Political Prisoners Network-Myanmar.
One woman recently freed from Maubin Prison told The Irrawaddy that a political prisoner who was menstruating begged not to be stripped search, but her pleas were ignored.
“She implored them to let her keep her panties on because she was having her period. But [prison staff] forced her to take them off, saying ‘a rule is a rule.’ She is an unmarried woman. Women prison staff used abusive language with her. She came back into her cell crying,” the former inmate said.
Guards “grope the breasts and buttocks of women political prisoners” during strip searches, she added.
The Political Prisoners Network-Myanmar said women guards at Maubin Prison insert their fingers into the vaginas and anuses of women political prisoners during the strip searches instead of using body scanners or X-ray machines.
“It is unacceptable that they search the private parts of women in Maubin Prison,” said.Ko Thaik Tun Oo, a member of the network. “If they want to search, they can install X-ray machines and body scanners. Obo Prison and Insein Prison have such machines. It is totally unacceptable that women are searched naked in public,” he added.
The network has condemned the abusive strip searches, saying they violate the modesty and dignity of the women and are psychologically abusive. They also violate Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the network said.
Every one of the perpetrators at Maubin Prison will be held accountable when justice returns to Myanmar, the network warned.
Ma Thinzar Shunlei Yi, a member of women’s rights organization Sisters 2 Sisters, said the sexual abuse of women political prisoners is “unforgivable.”
“Any degrading treatment is a human rights violation. Forcing women to take off their clothes in public increases their emotional insecurity. Such acts are unforgivable,” she said.
There are about 20 women political prisoners in Maubin Prison. They have been jailed for alleged violations of Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code and the Counter-Terrorism Law. They are serving sentences of up to 10 years.
