Inside the junta's torture chambers

Former political prisoner Khun Saing talks about his experiences inside Burma's prisons.

I WAS first arrested in 1976 for leading a student demonstration. After founding a youth party called New Generation and taking part in the civil disobedience movement, I was arrested and sentenced again in 1989. I was released in November 2004 and had to flee my country in April 2006 after I was warned by my colleagues that I might be arrested for a fourth time.

Although I have been sentenced three times and spent a total of 13 years in prison, I have never been to a police station. I was arrested by the military intelligence and they sent me directly to military camps. I was put in a military interrogation camp for periods of between a few weeks and many months. During this period they used many different kinds of physical and mental torture. During my second imprisonment I was tortured for three weeks at the intelligence headquarters and forced to make a confession. Only after that did they send me to Insein Prison.

We were detained before our trials for periods ranging from four months to a year. During this time we were not allowed to see our relatives and we were denied access to a lawyer. In fact, I never had a chance to see my lawyer throughout all of my three trials. We were guarded by armed soldiers and two of my trials were held in special military courts in the prison compound with judges in Army uniforms.

The regime in Burma does not recognise us as political prisoners; we are officially known as special security prisoners. We were usually held in cells 8 by 12 feet, sometimes even smaller. We had no bed but had to sleep on the concrete floor. We were allowed only 15 minutes a day outside the cell, to have a shower. The rest of the time we had to stay inside the cell. We were not allowed anything to read.

Most of the prison guards are illiterate or poorly educated and their treatment toward us was unpredictable. Some showed respect and sympathy but many were so brutal and treated us like criminals. I was usually kept alone but at one time I was put together with seven criminals in a cell for months. One of my colleagues, Myint Swe, was killed by a mentally ill prisoner. During my imprisonment I was also put together with prisoners with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and leprosy. I contracted tuberculosis but was denied proper treatment for four months. It was only after international pressure that I was given proper medical treatment.

The food in prison is so horrible it's difficult to describe. Sometimes the food is of such poor quality that it is actually rotten. And we never had enough to eat. Because of the insufficient and poor-quality food, political prisoners have to rely on their families to receive extra food. But some prisoners can't be visited regularly because the prisons are so remote that a single trip could take up to a month. The travel expenses could be more than three months' salary for a teacher. I spent 10 years in two remote prisons. One of the prisons, Shwe Bo, was 450 miles from my family.

These remote prisons have no doctor and no proper medical care. To get to the nearest hospital in an emergency is extremely difficult. Political prisoners need special permission from the intelligence headquarters so that most patients are admitted late to hospital. While I was in Shwe Bo prison, my friend Than Htay Oo became severely ill but he was denied treatment for months. When he was finally admitted to hospital, he was held in tight wrist chains and ankle chains and was tied to the hospital bed.

One hundred and thirty-seven  political prisoners have been killed or died in torture chambers and prison camps in Burma. In November alone 215 activists were given harsh sentences of up to 68 years. Without urgent action, many of my colleagues face spending the rest of their lives in prison.                                          

This article is reproduced from Burma Campaign News (Spring 2009), which is published by the Burma Campaign UK.

*Third World Resurgence No. 221/222, January-February 2009, p 46