Myanmar junta’s crackdown on prisons, orders regular practice with anti-riot weapons, jail inspection

Lieutenant-General Soe Htut of Myanmar military and Junta's Home Affairs Minister, visited Pathein, Insein, and Taungoo prisons on January 12, and ordered anti-riot drills.

His visit came after a brutal crackdown on a protest at Pathein Prison, which resulted in the death of a political prisoner and serious injuries to nine others last week.

Additionally, the junta minister instructed guards to regularly practice with anti-riot weapons and mandated tighter prison inspections. He also looked at the parcel drop-off counter at Insein Prison, where eight people were killed in October of last year by a parcel bomb.

Political prisoners have been subjected to persecution by the regime in all of the country's jails. Security guards opened fire on an alleged escape attempt in a prison in Kale, Sagaing Region, in March of last year, killing seven inmates.

The Myawady Daily, a mouthpiece for the Junta, has suggested that citizens are wasting abundantly available electricity. In fact, since the end of 20221, residents all over the country have been experiencing worsening power outages.

In an editorial published on January 10, the newspaper urged readers to "love your country by saving electricity."
It asserted that consumers are failing to conserve energy because electricity rates in Myanmar are significantly lower than those in neighboring ASEAN nations.

But it didn't explain how people could waste electricity when they only get a few hours of it a day. It also did not mention that people cannot afford to waste electricity in the midst of rising food costs and a crisis in living costs in the chaos that followed the coup in 2021.The junta leader, on the other hand, has squandered billions of dollars in public funds since he took control of the country from the democratically elected National League for Democracy government to create a false sense of authority. Min Aung Hlaing is now using state funds to finance an election in an apparent attempt to become president, in addition to bestowing honorary titles on junta cronies and organizing grand military reviews.

Democracies all over the world, including Myanmar's shadow civilian government, have criticized the poll as a ruse meant to consolidate military rule.

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