Editor TLN
Inmates at the infamous Insein prison stage silent strikes to protest coup generals. There are more than a hundred people on death row who fear more executions by hanging. An explosion and a shooting on the border with China leaves two dead and at least 9 injured.
Yangon ( / Agencies) – Many prisoners in the Insein prison have started a hunger strike to protest against capital executions. Last month, four democracy activists were executed by the Burmese military junta.
The information would have leaked through a prison source and was published by the independent news site The Irrawaddy. On July 25, Burmese state media – controlled by the military that overturned the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi through a coup on February 1, 2021 – reported the execution of four prisoners who had been sentenced to death.
Despite criticism from several countries, political prisoners fear a repeat of capital executions. According to an organization that monitors the issue, there would be 119 anti-regime activists sentenced to death, and 42 would be in rebellion. In recent days, defying repression by prison guards, Insein detainees have staged silent strikes calling for the international community to intervene.
Meanwhile, in the rest of Myanmar the civil war does not cease: two dead and at least nine injured is the balance of an explosion and a shooting that occurred yesterday in the city of Muse, in the Shan State, which borders China. So far, no fighting group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Among the groups fighting the army are the Popular Defense Forces (PDF), an informal guerrilla group that emerged after the coup and supports the Government of National Unity in exile. Other ethnic militias that already existed in various parts of the country are also fighting in the resistance.
In Muse there are several militias that fight over casinos and drug trafficking. China has reached an agreement with Burmese generals to ban the deployment of troops along the border. With this, Beijing seeks to ensure a project that is part of the Belt and Road Initiative: the construction of a high-speed railway to connect Yunnan, the southern province of China, and Myanmar. In 2018, ethnic militias carried out an attack on a casino that left 19 dead, including 2 Chinese citizens.
