Political prisoners held in the notorious Insein prison in Yangon and Ohbo prison in Mandalay have launched a boycott to condemn the regime's recent execution of four political prisoners. The inmates called on their families not to give prison officials money, locally called Zay Ber, which they use to buy things in prison, of which the guards keep 20 percent for themselves.

According to an anonymous source married to a female political prisoner in Insein charged with incitement, his wife took only dried food during a recent visit and instructed him not to leave money for her with the prison authorities.

If their families don't give money to the guards, the prisoners have no money to buy extra food or other things like cigarettes.

“By boycotting Zay Ber, they have sacrifice their essential rights to send a powerful statement,” he said.

According to a lawyer who spoke to NMG on condition of anonymity, prison authorities make a lot of money from the prisoners' Zay Ber, which they can request to buy things in shops outside the jails.

The lawyer said most political prisoners are united in the boycott and sharing all the food they have with each other in order to condemn the deaths of the prisoners.

The executions of Jimmy, Phyo Zayar Thaw, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw on 25 July shocked the nation and the world. Many people didn't expect that the regime would actually go ahead with it.

Jimmy, a veteran of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, and Phyo Zayar Thaw, a former National League for Democracy MP, were sentenced to death for allegedly plotting to attack the regime and have been in prison since their arrest last year.

According to the advocacy group Association of Assistance Political Prisoners, 1,497 people have been arrested since the military coup, of whom 1,348 have been sentenced. A total of 113 people have received the death penalty, including 41 in hiding.