Junta Torturing, Denying Medical Care to Women Political Prisoners, Including Pregnant Women: HRW

Ayeyarwaddy Times September 23 The interim government is severely committing torture, sexual violence, inadequate medical care, and denial of medical treatment against women political prisoners, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported today, September 23. It is reported that pregnant women political prisoners, in particular, are being denied the healthcare they should receive before and during childbirth, and some have even lost their lives. HRW stated that some women political prisoners have suffered stillbirths and maternal and infant deaths due to the refusal of prisons to provide necessary healthcare before, during, and after childbirth, and the lack of emergency care. A woman who was arrested when she was three months pregnant told HRW, "There was no way to predict when I would give birth because there was no ultrasound machine. My water broke at midnight. However, the transfer order to the hospital only arrived at 10 AM. Immediately after giving birth, my legs were shackled." According to international standards, mothers and children should be provided with a separate space for necessary care before and after childbirth. However, it is reported that prisons under the interim government lack even a place to give birth, and prisoners are helping each other deliver babies. Furthermore, it is reported that the interim government often uses the fetuses of pregnant women as a weapon of threat during arrest and interrogation, and also commits beatings and torture. During the Sagaing earthquake, a woman named Ma Nwe Ni Win, who was eight months pregnant and imprisoned in Obo Prison, sustained severe injuries. However, she was denied medical treatment, resulting in a stillbirth, and she herself died from infection. According to a report by Myanmar Prison Witness, a total of 290 political prisoners have died in the more than five years since the military coup, with 43 of them being women political prisoners and their children. In addition, HRW has reported that women political prisoners suffer severe psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, isolation, and suicidal ideation even after their release due to overcrowded living conditions and extreme lack of hygiene in prisons. Photo – Social Media