Below is the well researched text from Frontier Fridays on the prison protest a week ago. And the two links. There is little comprehensive coverage of the protest anywhere.
Detainees, prison staff, and the community are all put at risk by overcrowding and lack of vaccination against Covid19.
Jamie
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The other big news on the COVID-19 front is that a protest erupted in Insein Prison last Friday, reportedly inspired by the lack of proper healthcare in the facility, where scores of cases have been reported.
“The protest reportedly began because prisoners have not been provided with medical care, and neither have prison staff been given protection from COVID-19,” said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which also claimed some prison staff participated in the demonstration. The statement also expressed "great concern that the protests in Insein Prison will be viciously suppressed and there will be a massacre and rampant use of torture". While there were some initial reports that soldiers killed prisoners following the protest, we've been unable to confirm this and remain sceptical of the claims without further evidence.
Soon after, state media reported that 610 inmates in Insein were vaccinated against COVID-19, while simultaneously denying there was any outbreak – this despite the junta previously admitting that high-profile political prisoner Nyan Win died after contracting COVID-19 in the prison. While the article did not name him, Australian economic adviser to the overthrown government Sean Turnell can clearly be seen receiving a shot in the photographs. We of course can’t confirm it’s a legitimate vaccination and not a staged photo-op (he also looks extremely sunburnt).
An Australian professor, Professor Shawn Turnell, an economic adviser to @MyanmarSC Aung San Suu Kyi, a consultant who has been detained since February, was vaccinated today by the COVID-19 Vaccination Committee of the Council for the military.#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/kBuMwwq8Hr
— Burma Revolution 🇲🇲🏳️🌈 (@RvlBurma2) July 28, 2021
https://mailchi.mp/frontiermyanmar.net/prisoners-protest-as-covid-19-spirals?e=cc2e99cf93
