Burmese Junta Torture over detainees

Detainees Suffering the Effects of Torture
By Aye Lae
October 12, 2007


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A member of the 88 Generation Students’ Group, Hla Myo Naung, suffered nerve damage during an unsuccessful operation while in detention, according to his colleague Soe Tun.


Hla Myo Naung

Hla Myo Naung was arrested on Wednesday morning when he emerged from hiding to be treated in a Rangoon clinic. According to his doctor, he was suffering from a ruptured cornea and required surgery to save his sight.

Soe Tun, also a member of the 88 Generation Students’ Group, told The Irrawaddy, “A policeman informed his wife that Hla Myo Naung had some kind of injury to his nervous system, although we don’t know exactly what happened.”

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) secretary Tate Naing said, “We are concerned for him. We suspected that the authorities wouldn’t operate on his eye, because he was only arrested on Wednesday and needed the operation the following day.”

Meanwhile, activists, pro-democracy supporters and suspected protesters are being arrested by authorities.

On Wednesday, 17-year-old Ye Myat Hein, a student at the United States Information Service in Rangoon, was arrested for involvement in the pro-democracy demonstrations.

His mother San Aye cried when she told The Irrawaddy by telephone: “My heart is breaking for my son. At the same time, I believe that other mothers are also suffering like me in this country.”

Hla Myo Naung, aged 39, played a leading role in the 1988 pro-democracy uprising and spent five years in prison during the early 1990s. Thirteen of his fellow activists, including the most prominent, Min Ko Naing, were arrested on August 21 following a peaceful march against the government’s sharp increase in fuel prices.

On the same day Hla Myo Naung was arrested, 42-year-old Win Shwe died. An NLD member in Kyaukpadaung Township in Mandalay Division, Win Shwe had been arrested on September 26. Hla Myo Naung is also from Kyaukpadaung Township.

On Tuesday, the AAPP reported that two university students who were arrested on September 27 died while being interrogated in Rangoon’s Kyaikkasan interrogation center.

The AAPP said it is concerned about the risk of torture to more than 2,000 monks, activists and members of the public now in detention centers. “Numerous prisoners are being subjected to torture,” said the group.