GREAT EXPECTATIONS
(1)Introduction.
There are more than two thousands political prisoners in Burma. Students, youths, monks, women, senior citizens, politicians, members of ethnic minority groups, elected representatives…they are being detained in prisons by the Burmese military regime. What they have done is very simple. They only demand for Democracy and basic human rights peacefully and honestly. They only express their desire to have freedom of speech, freedom of press and human dignity as other people could enjoy all over the world. But this is a very serious crime in Burma and punishable with lengthy imprisonment.
I remember the saying, "Nobody is above the law." This is meaningful and precious for the countries, which are ruled by law. In the U.S.A, even an incumbent president can be impeached. In Burma, we have to change that saying into “Military regime and military intelligence are always above the law".
Like other dictators, Burmese military regime has the fear of losing their power. They always fear that people will revenge them when they lose their power.
(2)Prisons and Detention Centers.
Their solution to cover their fear is by arresting the people who challenge their unfairness and putting them into the prisons. Therefore, they always increase the capacity of intelligence mechanism to arrest their enemies and increase the number of prisons to house them for many years.
Before 1988, the Military Intelligence was one of the departments of the army and it had 14 Nos. Military Intelligence Corps with 7000 soldiers. After 1988, the Military Regime has increased their Intelligence mechanism in both size and modern technique. Now, there are more than forty military intelligence corps with forty thousands soldiers spreading all over the country even in abroad and under the direct monitoring of third most powerful person of the SPDC, Lt. General Khin Nyunt. They receive the Intelligence training from Israel and Singapore. Singapore even provided the sophisticated intelligence technology including computer center to the military regime. This is very obvious that the military regime is spending huge amount of money for their Intelligence system.
And also there are forty-five maximum-security prisons in Burma to house thousands of political prisoners and activists.
(3)Wrongfully arrest
Generally, every democratic government obeys the rule that not to arrest ten innocent people even an accused may escape. But the Burmese military regime reverses that rule by arresting many innocent people to confess a crime by force, which they never committed. Let me tell you an example.
In August 1989,there was an explosion at the Tanyin oil refinery, 25 miles away from Rangoon. The military intelligence arrested youth members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) from Tanyin Township and tortured them with various ways to force them into confessing for that explosion. When they were not able to resist the tortures, those youth finally signed on the confession paper prepared by the military intelligence. And next day, General Khin Nyunt called a press conference and announced that they have arrested persons who are responsible for the Tanyin explosion. He even showed the confession paper signed by those innocent youths to the reporters. Nyi Nyi Htun, one of those who signed on the confession paper was given the death sentence and the rest were given 20 years each.
Two months later, military intelligence arrested Ko Ko Naing, one of the KNU fighters for explosion at Rangoon Town Hall. And Ko Ko Naing admitted that he was also responsible for explosion at Tanyin oil refinery. He was also given the Death sentence. But, Nyi Nyi Htun and others who were sentenced for that explosion, which they never committed, are still in prison and have no hope to escape.
Anybody can be arrested in Burma by the military intelligence for their belief in Democracy and Human Rights or being a member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) or National League for Democracy (NLD). These arrests can happen in broad daylight. Our student leader Min Ko Naing was arrested in daytime in front of many people. He was handcuffed behind his back. He was blindfolded with a dirty hood. He was dragged to the military intelligence’s truck in front of many people. But nobody dared to save him. Some people might think that he could be a criminal who had committed a robbery or a murder.
Usually, these arrests happen at mid night. A group of soldiers will surround the target house. A group of plain cloth officers and local authorities will knock on the door and ask all family members to queue in front of them. They will search the whole house and confiscate what ever they want. Then they will pick their target person and bring with them without telling where and why. Official search warrant or arrest warrant are not necessary for them. Sometimes, they even arrest the wives and parents of suspects when they cannot find the suspects. Under such conditions, a political activist is forced to turn himself in and can’t run away for fear of reprisals against his wife, his parents or his siblings. Even newborn babies or infants are taken into custody while their parents are being interrogated.
(4) Tortures in custody
The military intelligence uses both physical and psychological tortures. First, they handcuff the suspect behind his or her back. And they blindfold him with a dirty hood. This is to break down the confidence and morale of the detainee. During the interrogation, the detainees are treated like animal. They have no alternative but to confess what they know and even what they don’t know. Those detainees are not allowed to sleep for four to seven days. They are not fed for at least five days. They are not given any water for at least four days. During that period, the detainees will receive brutal kicking, hitting, beating, slapping, electrocuting and shouting from groups of interrogators. He will become a sand bag. He will be rolled on the floor as a ball. He may become a disabled person. And he may even die.
There are many people who died in detention center of the military intelligence during interrogation. In 1990, U Maung Ko, who was a former trade union leader and central committee member of the NLD died in a detention center. Last year, Ko Hla Khin from NLD died during interrogation. And there are many more. The brutal tortures conducted by the military intelligence caused their death. But the military regime said that they committed suicide.
(5) The functions of the Military Intelligence
The main function of the military intelligence is to get the confession from the suspect. Actually, they have already fabricated the story, which they want the suspect to confess. If they want to create a story about foreign interference, the suspect will become the agent of CIA. If they want to announce a story about leftist conspiracy, the suspect will become a member of communist party. When they want to establish the danger of the insurgent groups, the suspect will become the ethnic terrorist. And they apply various kinds of physical and psychological tortures on the suspect and forced him to confess according to the story they have prepared. Once they get the confession from the suspect, they will call a press conference and announce proudly of their victory over the destructionists.
Another function of military intelligence is to send the suspect before the military court or summary court for sentencing. In fact, the trial is nothing more than reading out of the charges against the suspect by an intelligence officer. Min Ko Naing was sent before a military court which was held inside the Insein prison and chaired by a Colonel on December 17,1991 after thirty-three months of detention without trial. An intelligence officer read the charges against him. All the charges were completely fabricated to which he had never committed. After the charges were read out, the court was adjourned for ten minutes. When it resumed, the judge read out the sentence of fifteen years imprisonment with hard labor that was already prepared by the military intelligence. All the judges have no power to decide his destiny. Their duty is to listen to the charges read by an intelligence officer and to read the verdict given to them by the military intelligence. Min Ko Naing’s trial only lasted twenty-five minutes and he was not allowed to have any legal representatives. It was a typical trial as other thousands of political prisoners had faced and are still facing.
(6) Tortures In Prisons
The meaning of imprisonment should be limited to withdrawal of freedom of a person and not to withdraw the basic Human Rights. The status of a human being must be maintained. But, in the prisons of Burma, human being status is removed by the military regime. They are treating all political prisoners as animals and the spirit of human being are being humiliated day after day.
On the first few days at the prison, every prisoner had to learn four standard positions from the jailors and their assistance, senior prisoners.
Position (1) is for head count and inspection by prison officials. This is sitting position with cross-legged, arm straight out, holding the body vertical and face down.
Position (2) is called emergency position. This is squatting position with arm straight on knees and face down.
Position (3) is for walking and standing in front of prison officials. This is standing position with hands cross over the groin and face down.
Position (4) is punishment position. This is to stand on tiptoe with knees bent 45 degrees, and hand clasped behind the head and face down.
There are no positions for prisoners to face up. Prisoners are not allowed to face up in those positions at any time. It is a serious crime if a prisoner put his face upward and he will be punished severely. These positions are especially designed to break down the morale and confidence of prisoners. These are designed to strip off the spirit of human beings. These are purposely designed to degrade the status of human beings.
I spent one year and seven months in Insein prison before I was transferred to Thayet prison. Insein prison is the biggest prison in Burma and it can house about ten thousand prisoners including hundreds of political prisoners. Most of the political prisoners are put in the cellblock. In the cellblock, up to five prisoners are shared a tiny cells, eight foot by twelve foot. They have to sleep on the concrete floors with a bamboo mat. The cell is constructed with four concrete walls and ceiling is too high. There is one Iron Gate at front and a small window covered with wire mesh is at the high level of the back wall. And there are only two small chamber pots for excrement.
When we are in the cellblock, there were many rules to follow. We had to get up at six a.m and sit in position (1) about two hours for their roll call. We had to sit in position (1) again at five p.m about two hours for head-count. We only have fifteen minutes per day to go out from the cell to throw our excrement and for bathing. And at nine p.m, we must lie down on our place and nobody is allowed to sit or stand or walk in the cell. We were not allowed to talk to other political prisoners from the adjacent cells. We couldn’t even say a courtesy word, hello or Good morning or Good night.
For all political prisoners, it is very difficult to avoid punishment in prison. Firstly, we could not always obey those dirty regulations. Secondly, there are many rules that cannot be remembered all the time. Thirdly, prison authorities are always trying to find the mistake of the political prisoners purposely. Therefore, almost all political prisoners have to go through the experiences of punishment in jail. Let me tell you some punishments in the jail.
The general punishment is withdrawal of the right of family visits from one month to three months. For all political prisoners, bi-weekly family visits are the only hope to continue their survival. Family visits are only fifteen minutes in two weeks. And two iron grills with a space of about one foot between them separate the prisoners and visitors. And all family members are warned by the prison authorities not to talk about political news before they are allowed to meet their family members. But this is the only hope for the prisoners under the brutal tortures and feelings of depression. At least we could see the face of our beloved ones, and listen to the news about our relatives and friends. They bring some food and medicine for us. These family visits are very precious for us and we always look forward to them every two weeks.
When we are not allowed to meet our family as a punishment, we all have to suffer.
And, another kind of punishment is brutal torture and solitary confinement. We all had to face this punishment frequently in prison. In 1990, forty student prisoners from hall No. 4 at Insein prison requested to the prison authorities to reduce the hard work they were assigned to do. They were average of twenty years old and those hard works were extremely heavy for them. But the prison authorities assumed this request as a violation of the prison rule and decided to punish them with solitary confinement.
Those students were taken into tiny cells and four persons were put in each cell. They were not allowed to bathe. They were not allowed to have family visits. Furthermore, the jailers opened each cell in turn and began to beat them with wooden sticks and leather-coated pipes brutally. They were tortured everyday for one month.
Sometimes, political prisoners were punished because of failing to maintain their standard position. I remembered my friends, Ko Pyeit and Hla Htay, and myself; we were forced to crawl on sharp pointed stones after being accused of failing to maintain the standard position. We had to crawl about 500 yards until we reach the cell we were to be confined. While crawling, we were beaten with sticks by jailors continuously. Zaw Win Htut, an 18 year-old tenth-grade student, received this type of punishment because he dropped a cup while drinking. One of the senior monks, Abbot Meggin, seventy-five years old, was put into solitary confinement because he had taught English to some student prisoners.
Before we were sent to solitary confinement, we were shackled on our legs. One and half foot long iron rod is placed horizontally between our shackled legs. Total weight of shackles and iron rod is about (30) lbs. There are no blankets, no mats. We had to sleep on bare concrete floors and had no chance to wash. Every day, we were taken out of the cells, forced to stand in standard position No. (4) and beaten. The period of solitary confinement usually lasts for at least one month, and may last up to three months. There is no mercy in the prisons especially for political prisoners.
(7) Purposely sending away and separating the immediate family members
Now, a clear case is Min Ko Naing. Min Ko Naing’s family stays in Rangoon, Capital of Burma. Min Ko Naing was transferred to Sittwe prison, located in western part of Burma, 700 miles away from his home. His family could only visit him once every four months. This is an obvious attempt to break down the strong spirit of Min Ko Naing like all political prisoners. This is a revenge of the military regime to the people who are demanding the Democracy and Human Rights. And this is a price we are paying for Democracy and Human Rights.
(8) Health situation of some political prisoners
We have passed twelve years with great losses and expectations. Please don’t forget thousands of innocent people are still being detained in the prisons as hostages. For the young students and youth like Min Ko Naing, their young and active lifes are already destroyed in prisons. And we are not sure whether they can come out from the prisons with healthy condition. They may become insane. They may become disable person. They may even die in prisons in next few years. They may disappear from the world without saying goodbye to any one.
But they have trust in us. Their only expectation is their comrades outside the prison. They believe that their comrades are still fighting for Democracy and still trying too hard to save them from their living hell. Everyday, their dream is to meet with their comrades outside the prisons happily and freely and fearlessly.
Let us make their dream come true.
Aung Din
May 25,2001.
