AI has received new information about conditions in labour camps and prisons in Mynamar. Unofficial sources have provided details about the treatment of prisoners, including torture, prolonged shacking, lack of proper medical care and insufficient food. Torture techniques include beatings, crawling over stones and being held in hot sun for prolonged periods. Conditions in labour camps are so harsh that hundreds of prisoners have died as a result. Much information concerns Insein prison, Myanmar’s largest detention facility where at least 800 political prisoners are held along with thousands of other people imprisoned on criminal charges. AI has also received information about nine labour camps around the country where thousands of common criminals are forced to work under extremely harsh conditions. AI calls on the Myanmar government to cease such practices immediately, allow international monitoring of its prisons and conduct a thorough inquiry.
