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Myanmar junta's political prisoners since coup now number 10,000

Published : Saturday, 2 April, 2022 at 12:00 AM  Count : 502

YANGON, Apr 1: The military junta that seized power in Myanmar 14 months ago is now detaining 10,000 political prisoners, a rights organization that monitors detentions said Thursday. Many of the prisoners have been tortured and are being held in deplorable conditions, according to the group.
The regime's crackdown has been so harsh that more political prisoners are now being held in Myanmar than were imprisoned in total throughout the half-century of military rule that ended in 2010, said Aung Myo Kyaw, a spokesperson for the rights group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
"We have the largest number of political prisoners in Myanmar's history in barely a year," he said.
Myanmar reached the grim milestone of 10,000 political prisoners held at a
single time as the regime continues to imprison suspected opponents at a rate of about 20 people a day, according to AAPP, which has closely tracked arrests since the coup on Feb 1 last year.
That figure does not include the more than 3,000 political prisoners who were arrested and released, often after enduring brutal interrogations and many months in prison. Nearly 2,000 more opponents of the regime are evading arrest warrants, including many who have fled to the jungle to join an armed resistance against the junta.
While celebrating Armed Forces Day on Sunday, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the coup, called opponents of the regime "terrorists" and vowed to "annihilate them to an end." On the same holiday honouring the military a year ago, the security forces killed at least 114 protesters during its deadliest day since taking power.
Not long ago, Western countries had high hopes for democracy in Myanmar.
The military, which first seized power in 1962, began relaxing its grip more than a decade ago, allowing for democratic elections, the proliferation of cellphones and the embrace of social media.
The longtime democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi, who had endured 15 years under house arrest, led her National League for Democracy party to a landslide election victory in 2015 and formed a civilian government in a power-sharing arrangement with the generals.
But after her party won a second landslide vote in 2020, the military seized full control, imprisoning Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and at least 640 other officials and party leaders, according to the National League for Democracy.
    -The New York Times









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