21/07/2025
◾ Student activist Ma Wut Yi Aung, 26, dies in Insein Prison
July 21, 2025
Ma Wut Yi Aung, a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Dagon University Students’ Union (DUSU), died Saturday night at Insein Prison, where she was serving a two-year sentence, said Ko Thaik Htun Oo, spokesperson for the Political Prisoners Network of Myanmar (PPNM).
Ma Wut Yi Aung, 26, was arrested by the military council in Yangon on Sept. 14, 2021 and later sentenced to seven years in prison: three years under Section 505-A of the Penal Code and four years under Section 52(a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
In a statement, DUSU said Ma Wut Yi Aung suffered head injuries while being tortured during interrogation, and experienced frequent fainting spells, seizures and cardiac arrest, adding that prison authorities only provide treatment in emergencies.
DUSU General Secretary Ko Shai Thura told The Irrawaddy on Monday, “We learned from the family that she died at the prison hospital at around 9.30 last night. Ma Wut Yi was being treated in and out of the prison hospital due to the injuries she received during interrogation when she was arrested. In the end, there was [inadequate] medicine [to treat] the injuries she suffered during interrogation.”
Due to Ma Wut Yi Aung's poor health and lack of adequate medical care, her family members requested that she be treated at a hospital outside the prison, but the prison authorities refused the request.
According to PPNM's records, 14 political prisoners died from January to July 8 this year due to lack of adequate medical care in prison.
Political prisoners continue to be subjected to torture and threats to their lives. Those working to help political prisoners have called for in-prison medical treatment and adequate supplies of medicine, and for those with health concerns to be treated in hospitals outside prisons in a timely manner.
Photo: CJ
Copy From The Irrawaddy - Burmese Edition
