By Ko Myo / MPA
TOUNGOO, Myanmar — Myanmar prison authorities abruptly transferred approximately 500 inmates—including 100 male political prisoners—from Toungoo Prison to Tharrawaddy Prison in Bago Region under iron shackles, rights monitors confirmed on Thursday.
The political prisoner watchdog Political Prisoners Network Myanmar (PPNM) reported that prison officials announced the transfer roster just one day prior, immediately placing the selected detainees in heavy leg irons.
At around 3:30 AM on Thursday, 23 July 2026, the detainees were loaded onto 12-wheeled transport trucks and moved under heavy security to the notorious Tharrawaddy Prison.
During the pre-dawn transfer, each inmate was strictly limited to carrying only three blankets and a single change of clothes. Prison authorities confiscated all remaining personal belongings and care packages delivered by family members.
PPNM emphasized that subjecting detainees to leg irons, seizing personal belongings, and enforcing sudden transfers in the early morning hours constitute a systematic form of physical and psychological abuse against political prisoners.
Human rights watchdogs have continuously condemned the military junta’s prison administration, warning that punitive transfers to high-security facilities are routinely weaponized to isolate political detainees from their legal counsel and family support networks.
