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ABSDF (1996) Cries From Insein

May 18, 2015/in ND-Burma Members' Reports

Cries From Insein
by Win Naing Oo
Thse articles were published in 1996 by the ABSDF (All Burma Students’ Democratic Front).
1. Read > 1.1 Structure of the Prison
2. Read > 2.1 Prison Instruction Cell
3. Read > Corruption in the Prison
4. Read > Punishment in Prison
5. Read > Legal Procedures in Prison
6. Read > Criminal Prisoners
7. Read > Politicall Prisoners
8. Read > Harrassment of Politicall Prisoner
9. Read > General Issues
10. Read > Conclusion

1.1 Structure of the Prison
By Win Naing Oo

The prison is laid out in an octagonal design, with the halls located radially like the spokes of a wheel. There are two rows of brick walls around the prison. The external wall is higher about 20 ft in height, compared to the internal wall which is about 10 ft in height. There is also another prison known as the ‘attached prison’ which is joined to the main prison. The term ‘Insein’ is used to refer to both prisons. In order to enter the prison, it is necessary to pass through three thick iron doors in the entrance building. The Chief Warden of the prison lives on the upper floor of the building at the entrance. In the centre of the prison is the main prison office, and also the central tower. Taken in a clockwise direction, starting from the entrance building, the buildings in the prison are as follows (see the enclosed sketch of prison):
1. Entrance building (main iron gate of jail)
2. Female hall no.1
3. Solitary-confinement cell-blocks (there are six cell-blocks in compound)
4. Hall no. 1 (a two-story building, for detainees who are facing trial)
5. Hall no. 2 (a single-story building, also for detainees who are facing trial)
6. Hall no. 3 (for prisoners who have already been sentenced)
7. Special Hall
8. Hall no. 4 (for prisoners who have already been sentenced)
9. Hall no. 5 (for prisoners who have already been sentenced)
10. Kitchen hall
11. Hospital
12. Store
13. Prison office (reports and data on prisoners are kept here)
14. Female hall no. 2, including cell-blocks for women in solitary confinement
15. Attached prison
16. Office of the Prison Director-General (the head of all prisons in Burma)
17. Workshops
18. Dog-cell A.
Solitary Confinement Cells
There are six solitary-confinement cell-blocks. Each cell-block has many tiny cells (8 x 10). Each cell is shared by 3-5 political prisoners (since there are not enough cells for all the solitary-confinement prisoners, several prisoners are often kept together in these tiny cells). Prisoners in these cells are allowed to leave the room to wash and bathe for 15 minutes per day. Toilet buckets are cleaned every day.
No 1- Solitary confinement block 14 cells
No 2- 60 cells (including death row)
No 3- 14 cells
No 4- 30 cells
No 5- 22 cells
No 6- 10 cells
B. Other ordinary halls Each hall (25 x 440 ) has eight cells and has its own vegetable plots, one in front and one behind. Each vegetable plot is about fifty percent larger in area than the building itself.
C. Dog-cell The dog-cell is for the punishment of prisoners who commit a crime or who dare to complain about unjust treatment by prison authorities. (Previously, well-trained military dogs were kept in this cell, but there have been no dogs since 1988. Most of the worst atrocities take place in this cell. (See also 4. 1)
D. Special cell block This cell-block is only for very important political prisoners. It has 10 cells. Political prisoners who have stayed or are staying in this cell block are:
1. U Win Tin (Secretariat member of NLD)
2. U Khin Maung Mynt (Chairman of Peoples’ Progressive Party)
3. U Thet Khine (Main underground network network leader of CPB)
4. Min Ko Naing (Chairman of ABFSU)
There are four small houses in front of this special cell block. Political prisoners who have stayed in these small houses are:
1. U Tin Oo (Former Chairman of NLD)
2. U Kyi Maung (The Chairman of NLD following U Tin Oo)
3. U Chit Khine (Secretariat member of NLD)
4. Kim Min Chu (North Korean Operative) E.
Workshops
There are many workshops in the prison. Prisoners are forced to work long hours weaving, sewing (clothes and shoes) and working in the carpentry sections there.
1.2 Numbers of Prisoners
Hall no. 1 has two stories. There are nomally over 2,000 prisoners kept there. The other four halls always contain ove 1,000 prisoners each. There are routinely 400-500 political prisoners kept in the six solitary confinement cell blocks in the compound.
Thus the total estimated number of prisoners is:
Five ordinary halls 7,000
Six solitary confinement cell blocks 500
Female hall 500
Hospital 200
Attached prison 1,000
TOTAL 9,200
The number of prisoners in Insein prison varies slightly according to the situation. However, there are always 9,000-10,000 prisoners there. The solitary confinement cell blocks contain only political prisoners, all of whom are charged under section 5-j, but the rest of the political prisoners are mixed with criminals in Halls no. 3, 4 and 5. Each ordinary cell block always contains over 200 political prisoners.
Accordingly, the estimated numbers of political prisoners are:
6 solitary confinement cell blocks 500
3 ordinary cell blocks 700
Female hall and cell block 200
Attached prison 200
TOTAL 1,600
1.3 Prison Administrative Body
Chief Warden (Chief Supervisor of jail) One crown and two stars
Warden of jail 1 (Senior Supervisor) One crown and one star
Warden of jail 2 (Junior Supervisor) Three stars
Sr. Jailer (Senior prison officer) Two stars
Jr. Jailer (Junior prison officer) One star
Sergeant Major
Sergeant
Corporal
Lance Corporal Warder
The positions above are listed in descending order of rank. All positions are filled in Insein prison, but some of these ranks are vacant in other prisons in Burma. In addition, there is another authoritarian body made up of prisoners appointed by the prison administrative body:
Tan See Gyoke: The most senior person among prisoners.
Tan See: The most senior prisoner in a hall.
Akhan Lu Gyi: The most senior prisoner in a cell.
Akhan Sa Yei: Cell clerk; one in each cell. Varyar: The lowest level of these prisoners to managesecurity in cells, bathing and latrines.
The Tan See Gyoke and Tan See are criminals such as prominent gangsters and are appointed by the prison administrative body for this reason. All prisoners are very scared of them. A few prisoners become Akhan Lu Gyi by paying a bribe to the prison officials, but most of them are appointed because they are ruthless and brutal.

Rights of Prisoners and Violation of these Rights
2.1 Prison Instruction Cell
By Win Naing Oo

Red more …. Download PDF Cries From Insein

Report on the Human Rights Situation in Burma (July – December, 2014)

March 10, 2015/in ND-Burma's Reports, Periodic Report

Media Advisory:
New report by Network for Human Rights Documentation-Burma details continuing human rights violations by Burmese military against its citizens

Date: 10 March 2015 Read more

AAPP and FPPS (2015) Documentation Project Interim Report

February 18, 2015/in ND-Burma Members' Reports

To date, government efforts to assist former political prisoners (FPPs) to acclimatize and reintegrate into society have been largely nonexistent in Burma. The effects of this inaction have, and continue to be hugely detrimental for the FPPs, their families, and for transitional justice efforts in the country. This inaction has become even more pressing since the government of Burma began releasing hundreds of political prisoners1 in a wave of amnesties following the 2011 political reforms.
There are between 7,000 and 10,000 former political prisoners residing inside Burma, however very little is known regarding their current economic and social status, nor is there comprehensive data concerning their experiences inside the prison system. From March 2014 to date, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)’s Documentation Project, with the support of the Former Political Prisoners Society (FPPS), has been implementing an ongoing and vast data collection process both inside Burma and along the Thai-Burma border. The data collection aims to address three purposes: to collect census data of the FPPs that participated in the surveying; to understand the extent of the torture and mistreatment they faced whilst in prison; and to conduct a thorough needs assessment of the FPP population to provide the empirical basis for future interventions and rehabilitation programs.
The Documentation Project seeks to conclude with the release of two final and comprehensive publications based on the entire data collection in the first half of 2015: on the systematic use of torture and mistreatment of political prisoners; and on identifying needs of former political prisoners and building the case for reparations as key to transitional justice in Burma.
This report aims to provide an overview of the Documentation Project to date. The first section describes the methodology of the data collection, entry and cleaning process; the second section reveals the initial findings of the data analysis; and the third and final section outlines the next steps of the Documentation Project.

For more information, please contact
Bo Kyi +66 (0) 81 962 8713
Thet Oo +95 (0) 97 310 7933

Download Report —AAPP & FPPS Documentation Project Interim Report (Eng)

Yearning to be heard: Mon Farmers’ continued struggle for acknowledgement and protection for their rights

February 12, 2015/in ND-Burma Members' Reports

Introduction

In October 2013, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) released Disputed Territory, a report documenting the emerging trend of Mon farmers fighting for recognition of their land rights in the face of Read more

Media release: Yearning to be Heard: Mon Farmers’ Continued Struggle for Acknowledgement and Protection of their Rights

February 12, 2015/in Member statements

Media Release: Yearning to be Heard: Mon Farmers’ Continued Struggle for Acknowledgement and Protection of their Rights

Human Rights Foundation of Monland – Burma (HURFOM)
February 12, 2015

Land conflict is the most pressing issue facing Burma today, second only to armed conflict. Though Burma’s emerging democratic government has introduced land policy reform and has established land investigation commissions aimed to resolve land conflicts, civilian land acquisition by the Burmese military continues to take place, particularly in Burma’ minority ethnic areas.

Victims of land confiscation under the previous military regime and today’s quasi-civilian government demand justice through reparations and the protection of their rights under the law, however, relevant authorities consistently neglect their calls for justice, leaving the majority of cases of land conflict throughout Burma’s ethnic states unresolved.

With particular attention to ongoing land conflict in Mon State, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) has produced Yearning to be Heard: Mon Farmers’ Continued Struggle for Acknowledgement and Protection of their Rights, in efforts to advocate for ethnic Mon farmers’ land rights. Throughout this report, HURFOM contends that land conflicts in Mon State must be adequately and independently investigated in order to provide justice to victims of land rights abuse, in simultaneous effort in identifying the root cause of land conflict in Burma.

Yearning to be Heard highlights major cases of land confiscation that has taken place throughout Mon State; in Mon State’s Thanbyuzayat Township alone, the report identifies large-scale land confiscation perpetrated by Artillery Battalion No. 315 and the Military Advanced Training School No. 4, both based Thanbyuzayat Township. HURFOM interviewed 40 local plantation owners along the Yangon-Tavoy railway and highway in western Wae Kalee Village, from whom Artillery Battalion No. 315 seized 400 acres of rubber plantation, as well as over 30 plantation owners from Wae Kalee, Pa Nga and Phayalaysu Villages from whom the Military Advanced Training School No. 4 seized 800 acres of rubber plantation. Additionally, through information gathered from 76 interviews conducted with land confiscation victims in Thatkaw Village and Sakhan Gyi Village in Thanbyuzayat Township, HURFOM reports that Artillery Battalion No. 315 and the Military Advanced Training School No. 4 have confiscated over 1967.8 acres of civilian rubber plantation throughout these two villages.

Beyond reporting the vast numbers of civilian land unjustly confiscated by Burmese army battalions,Yearning to be Heard presents an in-depth analysis of current domestic land law and policy, as well as proportional laws, which are of significant importance to solving Burma’s extensive land conflict.

HURFOM identifies the central causes of land conflict in Burma to be found in land policy that refuses to recognize communal and ancestral rights and fails to protect ethnic farmers’ rights, the absence of available legal avenues through which victims may take action against unjust confiscations which have been perpetrated by the military in accordance with antiquated laws, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation’s monopoly over land management and allocation, the lack of any real authority granted to government-appointed land commissions and committees in decision-making and conflict resolution, and political parties’ reticence in supporting and promoting the resolution of Burma’s land conflict.

Through Yearning to be Heard, HURFOM documents evidence regarding abuses perpetrated against Mon landowners’ rights and their struggle for just resolution. HURFOM urges relevant government bodies to recognize ancestral land laws, immediately stop all acts of land confiscation, to protect landowners’ rights, and for the government to establish an independent judicial body which victims may access to obtain fair judgment on cases of land conflict.

Full PDF copies of Yearning to be Heard [English] can be downloaded at:http://www.rehmonnya.org/reports/Yearning-to-be-Heard-word-Eng-Full-Report.pdf  [4242 KB]
Low resolution report [English]  http://www.rehmonnya.org/reports/Yearning-to-be-Heard-word-Eng-NoCover-Report.pdf  [1317 KB]
Report in brief [Burmese]  http://www.rehmonnya.org/reports/Yearning-to-be-Heard-word-BUR-Brief-Report.pdf [2654 KB]
Media Release [Burmese] http://www.rehmonnya.org/reports/Media-Release-BUR-HURFOM.pdf

Hard copies of the report, as well as print-quality photos for news publication can be obtained by emailing monhumanrights@gmail.com,

Questions or requests for interviews in English, Mon and Burmese should be made by emailing monhumanrights@gmail.com or calling Nai Banyar +66 (0)89 239 9401 or Nai Aue Mon +66 (0)86 167 9741

About HURFOM:
The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) is a Thailand-based non-governmental human rights organization founded in 1995 by a group of Mon youth, students and community leaders. HURFOM works to monitor the human rights situation in southern Burma, and publishes print and online news, lengthy reports and analysis of ongoing human rights violations. More information can be found at www.rehmonnya.org

Even Though I Am Free I Am Not: The need for the campaign in 2015

January 8, 2015/in Member statements

Even though I am free I am not. This was the message the groundbreaking 2010 photography campaign sought to convey to the world. The message that the burgeoning road to freedom in Burma would be forever blocked while political prisoners remained. Freedom is not solely liberation from prison. It is also the need for a free country, a Burma where political freedoms and civil liberties are respected and there no longer exist political prisoners. This photo campaign, initiated by award winning documentary journalist James MacKay and The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), in conjunction with the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), demonstrated the solidarity and commitment to each other amongst former and current political prisoners. 160 former prisoners were photographed and the event was debuted at the headquarters of Amnesty International in London in June 2010.

At the time of the 2010 campaign there were still thousands of political prisoners in Burma’s jails. The number currently incarcerated in 2015 is considerably less than that, with AAPP figures recognizing around 164 current political prisoners. These numbers do not adequately reflect the reality of the situation in Burma. The steady number of releases or amnesties gives the impression that the current government recognizes the basic rights and freedoms of their people, and support the release of wrongly imprisoned activists. In actuality the number of political and human rights activists imprisoned has steadily increased since the beginning of 2014, with no official recognition of their status as political detainees. They are still imprisoned as criminals, many repeatedly imprisoned for continuing to demonstrate their brave commitment to a free democratic Burma. The the commitment this campaign symbolizes is demonstrative of the belief that no political prisoners should be left behind as the country moves towards a democracy. This campaign ensures they will not be forgotten and their freedom will be fought for.

January 4th 2015 celebrates Independence Day in Burma, with 2015 looking to be a important year for the future of the country. Independence Day marks the liberation of the country from British Colonial rule in 1948. In 2015 it should also recognize the journey that lies in front of the country now. The discussion of Burma as being in the middle of a democratic transition fails to adequately take into account steps that still need to be taken. These steps include securing the freedom of all remaining political prisoners. The needs for reform at a constitutional and judicial level are also essential first steps to take before a true democratic transition can be enacted.

The country faces many different challenges and difficulties in the run up to elections in 2015. The issue of political prisoners has been dangerously close to falling from international agendas with other issues being deemed more pressing in Burma. While civilians are continuing to face repression, harassment, abuse and arrest for defending basic civil liberties, Burma will not achieve the free democratic status they desire. The human rights of the people are not being recognized or protected by the current government and arrests are showing no sign of abating. This campaign is as necessary now as it was when there were still thousands of political prisoners remaining in Burma.

We thank our supporters, friends, colleagues and fellow activists for the continued solidarity they show with civil society in Burma. The supporters of political prisoners remain steadfast in their assertion that there can be no national reconciliation in Burma while political prisoners remain. This campaign reiterates the call to immediately and unconditionally release all remaining political prisoners and end the ongoing arrests that still pervade in Burma.

For More Information,
Thet Oo +95 (0) 9 73107933
Tin Maung Oo +95(0) 95501429
Aung Myo Kyaw +94(0) 942811 7348
Bo Kyi +66(0)81 9628 713