Inmates’ families call for allowing prison visits

By Admin 22 Jun 2023

DMG Newsroom
22 June 2023, Sittwe

Prison visits by families of inmates were suspended in March 2020, following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and though Covid-19 infections have remained at near-negligible levels for months in Arakan State and elsewhere in Myanmar, families are still being denied prison visits.

“I have not been able to meet my brother for more than one year now. I can only send food and other necessities through jailers. I don’t know if my brother has received them or not. And it is not easy to travel from Paletwa to Sittwe,” said Ko Min Aung, whose younger brother Ko Tin Htoo Aung is being held in Sittwe Prison.

Ko Tin Htoo Aung was arrested for talking to a media outlet about a Paletwa-based junta battalion’s hoisting of a white flag in December 2021. He was given three years in prison for incitement in April of last year.

Family members have also expressed concerns about the young writer Min Di Par, also known as Ko Aung Myint Naing, from Panmaw Village in Mrauk-U Township.

“We went to see him on Monday. But we were not allowed. I am worried about his health and the conditions inside the prison,” said Ma Nan Soe, the elder sister of Min Di Par.

The writer was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison under the Counter-Terrorism Law for allegedly funding the anti-regime People’s Defence Force.

The military regime and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had a meeting in March, at which the regime again denied the ICRC’s request to allow prison visits by family members. The ICRC itself has not been able to visit Myanmar’s prisons.

Daw Kyi Kyi Oo, the daughter of ousted Arakan State chief minister U Nyi Pu, has called on the regime to allow prison visits as cases of Covid-19 have dwindled.

“We have made repeated requests to allow us to see our father, who is suffering eye problems. However, we are not allowed,” said Daw Kyi Kyi Oo.

DMG was unable to contact the Sittwe Prison governor for comment. Human rights activists have called the ban on prison visits a form of human rights abuse.

“They are being denied their rights. The ban also inflicts psychological impacts on mothers and wives who could not see their sons and husbands,” said U Myat Tun, director of the Arakan Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Association.

The Prison Manual stipulates that every inmate has the right to receive appropriate healthcare while incarcerated and is entitled to a prison visit once a week.