U Myint Wai, a National League for Democracy (NLD) party member and political prisoner detained in Mandalay’s Oh-Bo Prison, has died from a ruptured appendix after being denied proper medical treatment, according to Ko Thet Tun Oo, a central committee member of the Political Prisoners Network Myanmar (PPNM). U Myint Wai passed away in the early morning of July 8 due to appendicitis complications. He was unlawfully arrested by police forces under the military council on May 19, 2021, in Ywa Thit village, Sagaing Region, and was subsequently charged with three sections at the Chan Mya Tharsi court, resulting in a 19-year prison sentence.
U Myint Wai had been experiencing severe abdominal pain since the beginning of July, particularly on the 1st and 2nd, and had made frequent visits to the prison clinic seeking medical attention. However, prison authorities dismissed his condition as routine stomach pain and repeatedly sent him back without proper treatment. It was only when his condition became critical that he was finally transferred to an outside hospital, but the week-long delay in proper medical care proved fatal. The Oh-Bo Prison in Mandalay has witnessed the deaths of at least seven political prisoners this year alone, which Ko Thet Tun Oo attributes to poor management by prison authorities and medical staff negligence.
The Political Prisoners Network Myanmar (PPNM) has been demanding adequate medical care and supplies within prisons, as well as timely transfers to external hospitals for those with serious health concerns. However, the Prison Department has failed to comply with these requests, resulting in an average of twenty-five political prisoners losing their lives annually. Ko Thet Tun Oo emphasized the urgent need for the release of all political prisoners and the guarantee of their fundamental human rights, including the right to life and access to proper healthcare. He stressed that these deaths are preventable and represent a systematic failure to protect the basic rights of political prisoners under detention.
