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Burma: Released prisoners tell stories of

torture; ICRC role needed
Source: Asian Human Rights Commission
Date: 24 Sep 2009

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) welcomes the release of prisoners f See all maps for this
Emergency
rom jails around Burma during the last week, especially human rights defenders an
d persons who were detained during and after the protests of August and Septemb
er 2007, including numbers of persons on whose cases the AHRC has issued urge By Country:
Myanmar
nt appeals. However, it notes with grave concern the reports of torture that some d
etainees experienced during interrogation. The physical and mental injuries caused
By Source:
in this period were either not adequately treated or not treated at all during the deta Asian Human Rights
inees' incarceration, causing some of them lifelong damage. Among those cases th Commission
at have been reported in the media:
By Type:
Ko Myo Yan Naung Thein, a former technical institute student, was assaulted by un Press Releases
known assailants and taken from a march during September 2007; he suffered inju
ries to his nerves during torture under interrogation and did not get adequate treat
ment in Sittwe Prison; he is now reportedly unable to walk.

Ko Bo Bo, a former student leader also known as Ko Moe Kyaw Thu, had been im
prisoned on a range of charges since 1992. He told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that aft
er his arrest he was taken to a military intelligence unit in Rangoon where he was h
ooded and repeatedly assaulted, denied water and refused access to a toilet. Duri
ng his term at Ohboe Jail he was twice seriously assaulted, in 2000 and 2005, cau
sing him to suffer constant headaches.

U Aung Myint, who was also detained after September 2007 and jailed on a two-y
ear sentence at Myaungmya, of which he served nearly the full time, also told RFA
that he and other prisoners had been tortured and had not received timely medical
attention during imprisonment.

The AHRC believes that there will have been many other instances of torture and
assault during interrogation and imprisonment followed by a subsequent lack of ap
propriate treatment--constituting an additional form of cruel and inhuman treatment
and punishment--among the persons released last week. It is also aware that such
treatment is by no means confined to cases of political detainees. Torture and abu
se of persons in custody is endemic across all types of cases in Burma, and had or
dinary criminal detainees also been interviewed many, perhaps most, would have h
ad similar stories to tell.

Accordingly, the Asian Human Rights Commission takes this opportunity to again c
all for the maximum amount of global effort to have the mandate of the Internation
al Committee of the Red Cross to visit detention facilities in Burma renewed withou
t further delay. Although renewal of the mandate--which the group suspended in 20
05 because of the government's failure to respect its internationally-recognized con
ditions--cannot fully prevent torture or protect detainees from abuse, it would be a p
ractical and quickly-implementable step to reduce the incidence of abuse and amel
iorate some of its worst consequences.

Renewal of the ICRC prison visits mandate is long overdue. There is absolutely no
reason for the government of Burma to object to the visits, given that the agency is

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ReliefWeb » Document » Burma: Released prisoners tell stories of torture; ICRC role needed 25.09.09 16:47

reason for the government of Burma to object to the visits, given that the agency is
bound by confidentiality, and the visits cost the government nothing. If then this mu
ch cannot be done, what good can be said of the release of a few thousand shatter
ed bodies, while tens of thousands more continue to have the same types of abuse
s heaped upon them daily?

###

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-government

al organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Ko
ng-based group was founded in 1984. About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Co
mmission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying hu
man rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984

With the exception of public UN sources, reproduction or redistribution of the above text,
in whole, part or in any form, requires the prior consent of the original source. The
opinions expressed in the documents carried by this site are those of the authors and are
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