Torture and Sexual Violence: Harrowing Report on the Treatment of Women Prisoners in Myanmar
Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that women imprisoned in Myanmar were being subjected on a widespread basis to torture, sexual violence and life-threatening medical neglect, confirming the chronic mistreatment of thousands of detainees in the war-torn country, Reuters reported.
Since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup, the impoverished Southeast Asian nation has been engulfed in a prolonged civil war. The conflict has devastated several regions, killed approximately 100,000 people and displaced more than 3.5 million.
In a report, the New York-based human rights organization said that more than 6,600 women, including former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and 640 children were among the more than 30,000 political prisoners detained since the coup.
“The accounts of women detained as political prisoners in Myanmar paint an extremely alarming picture of a prison system in which suffering and neglect are deliberate and routine,” said Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
A spokesperson for Myanmar’s military-backed government did not respond to a request for comment.
The government took office following the widely criticized 2025-2026 elections, which enabled former junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to become the country’s president.
Beatings, Burns and Electric Shocks
Human Rights Watch said prison authorities had beaten some female detainees with sticks, chains, metal pipes and slingshots.
Some women were also allegedly subjected to electric shocks, cigarette burns and sexual violence or forced to remain in painful stress positions for extended periods.
The organization based its report on interviews conducted in 2025 and 2026 with 17 former detainees. They included activists, journalists, humanitarian and healthcare workers, as well as relatives and lawyers.
Human Rights Watch quoted the former detainees as saying they had been prosecuted under several provisions of the penal code, including legislation introduced after the coup to punish opponents and a broadly worded counterterrorism law.
Reuters was unable to verify the accounts independently. However, they were consistent with a report published by United Nations investigators in 2025.
The UN report documented torture in detention facilities across Myanmar, including “beatings, electric shocks, strangulation, gang rape, the burning of genitals and other forms of sexual violence.”
Reuters reported in January that at least 74 political prisoners between the ages of 18 and 35 had died in custody since the coup.
Some reportedly died as a result of inadequate medical treatment and brutal interrogation.
