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August 6, 2025
A coalition of 15 human rights organizations—including Amnesty International, Article 19, and Politics for Women Myanmar—issued a joint statement on Tuesday condemning the Myanmar military regime’s treatment of political prisoners. The groups cited widespread torture, systematic denial of healthcare, and a rising death toll in detention facilities as evidence of an escalating human rights crisis.
The statement demanded immediate reforms, urging the military to end all forms of torture and ill-treatment and to provide detainees with non-discriminatory access to healthcare equivalent to community standards.
“We demand that the Myanmar military urgently provide people deprived of their liberty access to adequate healthcare… and put an immediate end to the torture and other ill-treatment of detainees,” the coalition declared.
The appeal follows the July deaths of two political prisoners:
- Ma Wutt Yee Aung, 26, a Dagon University Students Union executive, arrested in September 2021 and sentenced to seven years for alleged terrorism and incitement.
- Ko Pyae Sone Aung, 44, a National League for Democracy representative from Mon State, arrested in January 2022 and sentenced to six years for sedition and terrorism.
According to the Political Prisoners Network–Myanmar, at least 190 political detainees have died from torture, abusive interrogation, or lack of medical care since the military seized power in the February 2021 coup. No member of the ruling junta has been held accountable.
Data from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) further highlights the scale of repression:
- 29,507 individuals arrested since the coup
- 22,269 still in detention
- 7,041 killed by the junta
- 7,238 released
- Over 3.5 million internally displaced due to armed conflict
The United Nations continues to denounce the regime’s actions, referencing provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice in The Gambia v. Myanmar (2020). Despite international pressure, rights groups report that “genocidal practices” persist under military rule.
Excerpts from jurist.org article by Tony Xun | U. Ottawa Faculty of Law, CA
