Family members have called on authorities to allow them to visit inmates detained in prisons across Arakan State after many relatives say they’ve not been able to meet with their loved ones since the third wave of Covid-19 struck last year.

The regime has lifted a pandemic-related ban on large gatherings of people following a steady decline in Covid-19 cases. Because Covid-19 infections have decreased significantly in Arakan State, family members are asking to be allowed to visit inmates and detainees facing trial.

“My son and his friends have been in prison for nearly three years now,” said Daw Ni Ni Aye, the mother of one of five detainees from Ponnagyun’s Kyaukseik village and nearby. “They long for me to visit them because it is the only time they can have a proper meal. It has been years that the court has delayed the verdict. And we haven’t been allowed to visit them. Is it fair? I want authorities to sympathise with us.”

As family members are not allowed to visit them in person, they can only leave food and other items with the security guards at the prison entrance, she said.

U Aung Myint, the elder brother of Ko Min Di Par, who was sentenced to 10 years behind bars in February, said it is a poor excuse to cite Covid-19 regulations for the ban on prison visits after the regime has lifted the ban on large gatherings.

U Min Aung, the elder brother of Paletwa resident Ko Tin Tun Aung, who was sentenced to three years in Sittwe Prison for incitement, said he wants to meet his younger brother.

“I would be satisfied even if I could only hear his voice and was not allowed to see his face. I feel like we are worlds apart. I haven’t seen him since he was imprisoned. I would even walk to Sittwe if I were allowed to visit him,” said U Min Aung, who lives in Chin State’s Paletwa Township.

DMG was unable to obtain comment from the Arakan State Correctional Department and Arakan State regime spokesman U Hla Thein.