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In Burma there are an un-estimatable political prisoners detained in various jails across the country. A fair amount of these prisoners are highschool and university students.
They are kept in conditions that would blow the International Decaliration of Human Rights to peices.
During Interrogation they are brutally tortured. During most or all of this time they are hooded, interrogated by faceless voices.
The following are quotes from the publication "tortured voices" by the ABFSU.
"'I know the mass of the students stand behind him,' I said, taking a risk.
'This guy seems to be stubborn,' said the officer slowly and heavily.
Just then both my ankles were stabbed with something sharp and the room became very quiet. I felt as if I were alone in the room. I tried to spread my legs a bit more to shake the stick between my feet and I heard the sound of something like a wooden stick drop onto the concrete floor. Then I heard footsteps coming towards me and someone hit me across the head. They continued to hit me about the head and I lost count of how many times I was struck. The stick was once again placed between my legs and someone told me not to move.
I was thirsty, my lips were dry, my legs were in pain and my arms, which had been up for a long time, were very tired. I can't explain how much I was suffering at that moment. I shivered and shook, and I wondered what had happened to my friend Myint Thu."
~Myo Aye
This quote is from Naing Kyaw, it describes him being tortured using electricity.
"Immediately I felt a cold iron-like object touching my fingers. A moment later I heard the gentle hum of a small motor and an electric wave shot through my whole body. The shock lasted about 30 seconds and my body shook uncontrollably. I felt like my nerves were being stretched and I momentarily fainted.
'How was that?' someone was asking me. 'Was it good? Do your nerves feel relaxed?' He was laughing at me."
When they are finally sentanced their suffering does not end. They are detained along with criminals, denied visitors, personal hygine items (including menstral health items for women) and reading and writing material. In their desparation for reading material the peel off the wrappers of cheeroots and read the old news stories.
Their food is insufficient. It consists of rice, fish paste and weekly a peice of meat one inch squared. Most of the best food is taken by the criminals who bribe the wardens.
Corruption is rife. Criminals are bribed by the guards to kill of other prisoners they do not like and the hospital beds are usually taken up by "pretend patients" who bribe the doctors to let them sleep there. These patients get all the best treatment and food, while the real sick people are given nothing.
Please use the appeal to demand the release of just one of the people going through this. It may not seem like much, one prisoner. But it is. Imagine how much it is worth to that one person.
Khin Khin Leh
Sentance : Life
Current Prison : Insein
Health concerns: lung disease, rheumatoid arthritus, dysentry
Before her arrest in July 1999 Khin Khin Leh was a teacher and member of the Bago NLD. She is serving a life sentence after being arrested in connection with a demonstration to commemorate the assasination of Geberal Aung San, and to call for the lowering of food prices and improvements to the salaries of civil servants. The authorities also arrested her three year old daughter and held he in custody with her for five days.
Please Write
Your Excellency,
I am writing, to request the urgent and unconditional release of Khin Khin Leh from Insein prison, and all political prisoners in Myanmar.
Until then I am calling for political prisoners in Myanmar to be treated in a humane was which observes the Universal declaration of Human Rights, and international standards which gives them access to reading material, visitors, status as political prisoners and any medical treatment they may need.
Yours Sincerly,
Send Appeals to -
Senior General Than Shwe, Chairman.
State Peace and Development Council
c/o Director of Defence Services Intelligence (DDSI)
Ministry of Defence
Signal Pagoda Road
Dagon Post Office
Yangon,
Union of Myanmar.
Fax: +95 1 229 501
REST IN PEACE KO OO
REST IN PEACE TIN TUN
Tortured: Another political prisoner dies at Burma’s Tharawaddy Jail
Mar 24, 2006 (DVB) - Ko Oo, a political prisoner who had been detained at the
notorious Tharawaddy Jail in lower central Burma near Rangoon, died on 23 March
as he was not allowed to receive medical treatments in time.
Since the beginning of his detention, Ko Oo had been suffering from gastric
complaints and severe pains all over his body due to the tortures he received in
the hand of military intelligent agents.
Ko Oo’s condition started to deteriorate seriously in February and his family
members requested the prison authorities to allow him to receive proper medical
treatments at an ‘outside’ clinic, but it was refused. Only when his condition
deteriorated beyond repair, Ko Oo was sent to an outside hospital to receive
operations. But he died an hour after he arrived at the hospital, at 5pm local
time.
Ko Oo was allowed to be buried ‘freely’ on 24 March, according to his former
colleague Nyein Maung.
Ko Oo, who held strong political beliefs, was the secretary of Thayet Township’s
National League for Democracy (NLD) in central Burma, and he was arrested in
1998 for his active political activities.
“He was arrested because of his strong politics. He was very active in the NLD,”
Nyein Maung said. “He carried out his duties without fail. He is someone who
carries out his duties with consistency. His has strong political beliefs,
stronger than us; that’s why he was imprisoned thus. My feeling is, it is like
loosing a limb (for the party). He was very reliable for the township. He was
also very good socially and very loyal to the NLD. Because of his loyalty, he
was charged with trumped up charges.”
Ko Oo was arrested and detained twice and during the second detention, he was
told that if he quit the NLD he would be let off scotch-free, but he refused to
do so and continued to be detained – thus paid for his beliefs with his life.
Many inmates have been dying in Tharawaddy Jail from various causes since the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was barred from visiting prisons
and hard labour camps at the end of 2005.
May Ko Oo rest in peace!
Former political prisoner Tin Tun dies
Mar 25, 2006 (DVB) – Ex-political prisoner and former Asian boxing champion Tin
Tun, died on 24 March from tuberculosis he contracted in prison, according to
his son Phone Myint Tun who is now living in Japan.
“He had been very ill since the previous three days and hospitalised after he
lost consciousness. Since then, he never regained consciousness and died at noon
yesterday. He died after the TB virus entered his brain. He had been suffering
from TB and gastric diseases. He died one year and nine months after he was
released from prison,” said Phone Myint Tun who himself was jailed as a
political prisoner from 1991 to 1995 sahring a prison cell with his father. He
also expressed his sorrow at the death of his beloved father and added that
although he was unable to attend his father’s funeral, he is very proud for the
man who made Burma proud through his sporting achievements and sacrificed his
life for the good of the country.
Tin Tun was arrested for copying and distributing Khitpyaing Journal (New Era, a
political news journal published by exiled Burmese acticists)in 1993 and
sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released on 20 June 2004 on medical
ground as he was suffering from severe coronary arteriosclerosis at the time
with other diseases. He was even unable to walk properly.
Tin Tun was 62 years old when he died. He is survived by his wife May Shin, two
daughters and a son.
