Wai Moe Naing held in solitary at Mandalay’s Obo Prison
Political prisoner Wai Moe Naing has been held in solitary confinement since he was transferred to Mandalay’s Obo Prison from Monywa Prison in Sagaing Region on June 12. He was among 50 political prisoners injured by prison guards using “rubber and wooden batons,” according to the Political Prisoners Network Myanmar (PPNM).
“Depending on their [political] stance and level of [activism], some were placed in solitary confinement cells while others were sent to prison wards,” Thaik Tun Oo, the PPNM spokesperson, told DVB. Wai Moe Naing, 29, was arrested during an anti-coup protest on April 15, 2021, then convicted of various charges, including murder, and sentenced to 74 years in prison.
Two political prisoners have died inside Obo Prison due to a lack of adequate medical care since May, according to PPNM. It reported 41 political prisoners among 64 inmates killed at Obo Prison during the March 28 earthquake. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) has documented that 22,134 individuals are still being jailed in Burma for political reasons.
Malaysia deports 80 Myanmar migrant workers
The Alliance of Chin Refugees (ACR), a Kuala Lumpur-based organization representing refugees and asylum seekers from Burma in Malaysia, has urged the immigration department ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20 to halt the deportations of undocumented migrant workers from Burma. James Bawi Thang Bik, the ACR Chairperson, has cited the risk of arrest by the regime upon arrival in Yangon.
“The family members [of migrant workers deported from Malaysia] are searching for their children [in Yangon] because they did not arrive at the airport. We are not rejecting arrests, but we plead that deportations not be carried out,” James Bawi Thang Bik told media at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on June 16. He added that approximately 80 Burma nationals were deported from Malaysia on May 28.
Rafik Ismail, a volunteer working with Rohingya in Malaysia, added that roughly 3,000 refugees from Burma are currently being held at Malaysian immigration detention centres. “It is safer for them to remain in detention here [in Malaysia], where there is at least a chance to survive,” he said. Malaysia hosts 179,020 refugees from Burma, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Aung San Suu Kyi 80th birthday campaign reaches goal
The Suu 80th Birthday Campaign announced on social media that it had reached its goal of receiving 80,000 video birthday wishes for jailed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday — one day ahead of her 80th birthday on June 19. This campaign is part of the Suu80 Challenge – an 80 km run over 10 days to raise awareness about her detention since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021 by her son Kim Aris.
“This e-birthday wish record is a powerful testament to [my mother’s] global support. It is my hope this achievement brings urgent attention to her plight and that of the people of Burma. Her voice may be silenced but her flame will never be extinguished,” Aris told DVB. Last month, he received the Citizen of Burma Award on her behalf in the U.S., where he raised $400,000 USD for the campaign earlier this year.
Funds raised by the Suu80 Challenge will go toward supporting the families of political prisoners in Burma, as well as to emergency humanitarian relief via Aris’ organization Aid2Burma. Participants uploaded videos under 30 seconds long, via the Aid2Burma website, wishing Aung San Suu Kyi a happy 80th birthday. Guinness World Records states that the most birthday wish videos ever received is 32,207.
News by Region
YANGON—Visitors to Shwedagon Pagoda told DVB that authorities were searching anyone entering carrying flowers on Wednesday. Over the last four years, people inside Burma and abroad have participated in the Flower Strike on June 19 to raise awareness about Aung San Suu Kyi.
“Now we can’t even visit the pagoda in peace,” a visitor told DVB on the condition of anonymity, criticizing the regime’s alleged scrutiny of young people. Pro-military social media accounts claim that anyone caught sharing birthday wishes to Aung San Suu Kyi could be arrested.
KACHIN—Hpakant Township residents told DVB that bodies buried at a cemetery in Lonekhin village have become visible as excavation work has begun to develop the land into residential plots. Residents accused village elders of selling the land to unknown businesspeople.
Sources told DVB that fighting between regime forces and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Lonekhin village has been ongoing since May. Lonekhin, located seven miles (11 km) northeast of Hpakant town, has been under KIA control since April 2024.
BAGO—The People’s Defence Force (PDF) in Thayarwady District told DVB that 20 regime troops, including two high-ranking police officers, were killed at a police station and checkpoints in Minhla Township, located 104 miles (167 km) northwest of the region’s capital Bago.
A PDF member told DVB that it killed almost every troop that arrived as reinforcements. But it added that three civilians in a car were killed by artillery fired by regime forces on the Yangon-Mandalay highway in response to the PDF-led attack.
SAGAING—The PDF told DVB that eight regime troops were killed in two vehicles traveling from Chaung-U to Monywa that struck landmines in Kutawpalin and Taungpon villages on Monday. Chaung-U is 16 miles (25 km) south of the region’s capital Monywa.
“The bodies [of troops killed] were recovered by the military,” a PDF member told DVB. Residents said that regime forces set up checkpoints along the Monywa-Chaung-U-Mandalay road on Tuesday. The PDF destroyed one of the two regime vehicles by setting it on fire.
(Exchange rate: $1 USD = 4,520 MMK)
