Myanmar has been in turmoil since last year when the military overthrew an elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, after it won a general election, and led a deadly crackdown on dissent.
Tens of thousands of people have been jailed and many tortured, beaten or killed, in what the United Nations has called crimes against humanity.
The international community has imposed sanctions on the military and dismissed Aung San Suu Kyi’s secretive trials as farcical.
“It’s a massive assault against her rights, and part of the campaign to bury her and the NLD forever,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, referring to her ousted party, the National League for Democracy.
The military government’s spokesperson Zaw Min Tun could not be reached for comment on Monday. It has previously said Aung San Suu Kyi is being given due process by an independent judiciary and rejects foreign criticism as interference.
The daughter of the leader of Myanmar’s campaign for independence from British colonial rule led the country for five years during a brief period of tentative reforms before being forced from power in the February 2021 coup.
The military has ruled for five of the past six decades.