Buthidaung: Political prisoners in Buthidaung prison are being forced by junta authorities to live with hardened criminals in a room and denied rights, said a prisoner released from prison recently.
"Some political prisoners, except Ko Htay Kwe, in Buthidaung have to live with prisoners, who are criminals. Sometimes political prisoners become upset by the behaviour of some fellow criminal prisoners," he said.
In Buthidaung prison there are over 20 political prisoners, including prominent 88 generation student leader Ko Htay Kwe. Most political prisoners are forced to live with the general prison population, devoid of rights.
Monk U Ithiriya, who led the Saffron Revolution protests in Sittwe in 2007, has also been placed with the criminal inmates in Buthidaung prison.
"I stayed with U Ithiriya and political prisoners Ko Moe Nay Soe, Ko Than Htay, Ko Maung Maung Thet, Ko Chit Maung Maung, and some other prisoners in Ward No. 3 in the prison. They have to toil in the prison like the other prisoners," he said.
Ko Moe Nay Soe, Ko Than Htay, Ko Maung Maung Thet, and Ko Chit Maung Maung are from Taungup in southern Arakan and were arrested by Burmese military authorities on 8 August, 2008, along with women activists Ma Ni Ni May Myint, when they marked the 20th anniversary of the 8888 uprising by wearing Daw Suu t-shirts and marching along the streets of Taungup.
They were sentenced to two and-a-half years in Thandwe prison but were later shifted to the notorious Buthidaung prison, when the staged a hunger strike on Ottama Memorial Day on 9 September.
"Ko Htay Kwe and Ma Ni Ni May Myint have been put in separate rooms in the prison but the prisoners have no chance of seeing Ko Htay Kwe because the prison authorities do not allow any prisoner to meet him. Food and medicine has been regularly sent by his family. His situation is not very bad," the source added.
The political prisoners have several times requested that the prison authorities keep them separate from the criminal inmates because they are facing many problems, but they ignored the requests.
In Buthidaung there are 1450 prisoners, and they are all facing problems of insufficient food on a daily basis because the prison authorities misappropriate the prisoners' rations supplied by the government.
"Twenty four rice bags have been allocated by the prison department in Naypyidaw to prisoners in Buthidaung prison a day, but the prison authorities in Buthidaung feed prisoners just 17 bags per day and the rest of the rice bags are sold by the authorities outside the prison for profit," he said.
