Bangkok (Mizzima) – Protesting the Burmese government’s one-year commutation of prison sentences, female political prisoners are on a hunger strike in Insein Prison in Rangoon, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) (AAPP-B).
insein-prisonSecretary Tate Naing said the strike started Tuesday, and, ‘One form of the protest is a hunger strike. They staged the protest against the presidential commutation ordered May 16 because they thought the commutation is not enough’.
Mizzima contacted the Prison Department, but an official refused to comment.
An activist in Rangoon who has provided help to political prisoners said that female prisoners in hall No. 7 in Insein Prison staged a hunger strike to protest against the commutation that was labeled as an ‘amnesty’ by some government officials.
The number of the protestors is not known, but activists Ohmma Myint, Thandar Aung and Aye Chan are taking part in the hunger strike, the activist said. When Ohmma Myint had a visitor on Friday she refused to take the food that was brought for her, he said.
According to an employee at the Prison Department, Ohmma Myint and Thandar Aung are not in good health and they have received medical treatment.
Meanwhile, the lack of information has increased the worries of political prisoners’ families.
The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma said on May 3 that there were 420 political prisoners in Insein Prison in Rangoon and more than 30 of them were female political prisoners. Across Burma, there were 2,061 political prisoners and 156 were female.
On May 17, Burma began releasing about 14,600 prisoners across the country under the one-year commutation ordered by President Thein Sein. According to the latest figures, 55 of the 14,600 prisoners are political prisoners and 27 of the 55 political prisoners are members of the National League for Democracy.
