Myanmar female prisoners face torture and neglect, rights group says

Female prisoners in Myanmar are subjected to widespread torture, sexual violence and life-threatening medical neglect, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday, highlighting the chronic mistreatment of thousands of detainees in the war-torn country.

Since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup, a protracted civil war has gripped the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, killing about 100,000 people and displacing more than 3.5 million.

In a report, the New York-based rights group said more than 6,600 women, including former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and 640 children were among more than 30,000 political prisoners detained since the coup.

"Women who have been detained as political prisoners in Myanmar paint a deeply disturbing picture of a prison system in which suffering and neglect are both deliberate and routine," said Bryony Lau, HRW's Asia deputy director.

A spokesperson for Myanmar's military-backed government, which took office after a widely criticised election in 2025-26 that paved the way for former junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to become president, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Alleged beatings, burns and electric shocks

Prison authorities beat some prisoners with sticks, chains, metal pipes and slingshots, while others were subjected to electric shocks, cigarette burns, prolonged stress positions and sexual violence, HRW said.

The report was based on interviews with 17 former female detainees, including activists, journalists, aid and healthcare workers, as well as family members and lawyers, conducted in 2025 and 2026.

According to the rights group, the former detainees were prosecuted under multiple provisions of Myanmar's criminal code, including a post-coup law targeting opposition and dissent and a broad counter-terrorism law.

Reuters could not independently verify the accounts, but they are consistent with findings in a 2025 report by United Nations investigators.

The UN report documented torture in Myanmar's detention facilities, citing "beatings, electric shocks, strangulations, gang rape, burning of sexual body parts and other forms of sexual violence".

At least 74 political prisoners aged between 18 and 35 have died in detention since the coup, some reportedly because of inadequate medical treatment and harsh interrogation, Reuters reported in January.

Former prisoners told HRW that prison authorities routinely denied access to necessary medical care for serious chronic and acute conditions. Pregnant women were also denied adequate medical care, with some forced to give birth inside their cells.

"There was no ultrasound so there was no way to estimate the due date," one former prisoner told HRW, describing how her water broke at midnight but a letter referring her to a hospital did not arrive until 10am.

"Chains were put back on my feet right after the delivery."