Two political prisoners were severely injured after being shot at Mandalay’s Obo Prison amid a hunger strike against the Myanmar junta’s execution of four pro-democracy activists.
A representative of the Assistance for Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP) told The Irrawaddy that a riot broke out in the prison on Friday morning. The source said prison staff injured two political prisoners.
Obo prisoners have been staging a hunger strike against the hangings of Ko Jimmy, Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw, Ko Aung Thura Zaw and Ko Hla Myo Aung.
According to sources, four political prisoners who joined the hunger strike were put in solitary confinement this week.
The Basic Education General Strike Committee told The Irrawaddy that three of its members were among the four in solitary confinement.
“Three members, Ma Thet Su Hlaing, Ko Naung Htet Aung and Ko Naing Thiha Kyaw, were sent to solidarity confinement and they are in a life-threatening condition,” the committee member said.
It is unknown how big the protests have been and when they started as the authorities have tightened security.
However, prisoners managed to smuggle out a handwritten statement declaring that they will boycott the junta-controlled judiciary and that prisoners condemn the executions and honor the martyrs who until their last breath opposed the regime and paid with their lives for the revolution as heroes.
It urged the civilian National Unity Government, ethnic armed groups and resistance forces to unite against the junta.
Many political prisoners in Yangon’s Insein Prison began a hunger strike on Wednesday for the activists.
By Thursday, more than 14,900 people have been detained and at least 2,157 civilians have been killed by junta forces since the February 2021 coup, according to the AAPP.
