Myanmar Junta’s Political Prisoners Since Coup Now Number 10,000

After nationwide protests erupted, the safety forces responded by taking pictures some protesters, arresting others and raiding the properties of suspected critics. The A.A.P.P. says at the least 1,723 civilians have been killed.

President Biden and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong issued a joint assertion in Washington on Tuesday calling on the Myanmar junta to launch political prisoners, enable humanitarian entry and start restoring democracy.

“The USA and Singapore share deep issues concerning the scenario in Myanmar and the challenges it poses to regional stability,” the 2 leaders mentioned. “We proceed to name for an finish to violence in opposition to civilians in Myanmar, the discharge of all political detainees, together with State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and international detainees.”

Antony J. Blinken, the USA secretary of state, estimated in December that greater than one million political prisoners are being held in additional than 65 nations world wide.

“Extra people are being unjustly detained or convicted in sham trials with every passing day,” he mentioned, citing the case of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, who was sentenced to 6 years in jail in December and January and faces a dozen extra counts. Mr. Blinken urged nations detaining political prisoners to free them.

Whereas numbers are troublesome to come back by, North Korea in all probability holds essentially the most political prisoners of any nation, with estimates of 120,000 or extra. Many are imprisoned in an unlimited community of compelled labor camps that has been expanded underneath its brutal ruler, Kim Jong-un. In Egypt, the place the armed forces commander, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, seized energy in 2013, human rights teams say the regime holds as many as 60,000 political prisoners.

In Southeast Asia, Myanmar has rapidly outstripped the dismal information of its autocratic neighbors, together with Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, mentioned Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch.