Prison authorities are collecting extra personal information from prisoners in junta controlled jails throughout the country, according to a Political Prisoners Network-Myanmar (PPNM) 28 October report.
According to the report prison officials in certain prisons have been collecting extra personal details from both political and normal prisoners, including names, fathers’ names, ages, ID numbers, and other information since September. The information collected varies from prison to prison.
Political prisoners are concerned about the extra data collection as the prison authorities already collect 32 different personal details from each political prisoner when they start their sentence, more data than they collect from ordinary prisoners.
The junta is in the process of winding up a national census that was supposed to run from 1 to 15 October 2024. It attempted to gather data from all the country’s inhabitants, though in reality there were many areas where it was unable to collect data and the deadline was extended to 31 October, in an attempt to collect more data. The junta claimed that it needed to collect the data so that voter lists can be drawn up for the elections it plans to hold in 2025.
It is not known whether the current collection of data in prisons has anything to do with the census. But, prisoners cannot vote so there is little point in collecting census data from them if the main reason for collecting it is to draw up voter lists.
Ko Thaik Htun Oo, a spokesperson from PPNM said: “It has been observed that at least seven or eight questions are being asked. The questioning varies depending on the prison. Whether it’s an election or anything else, prisoners are not included [allowed to take part]. It’s very suspicious to collect additional information from prisoners who don’t have the right to vote. There is widespread concern that the junta may be exploiting this data collection to advance its political interests.”
He also said that the extra data collection is happening in at least 10 prisons across the country but none of the prisons where this is happening have been identified.
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