Blog Elements – Page 591

To survive, one needs mental power. It can bring not only physical changes but also great achievements. We can say that it controls a Man’s vice and virtue. Without mental power, the ability to survive under harsh conditions can be seriously affected. However, with mental power, Man can overcome all kinds of difficulties. This mental power can have an effect many times stronger than even nuclear power.

Thousands of political prisoners have been in prisons in Burma – which has gone from being a developing country to one of the least developed countries, through misrule by the authorities. They are put in prison for their beliefs and activities supporting democracy in their country. The last 13 years have been the toughest since the first military coup in 1962 when political activities were totally prohibited.

The current military regime has been ruling in numerous cruel ways after the crack down on the peoples’ uprising in 1988. They have neglected the desires of the people as they seem intent on holding power. The people are living in constant danger under this kind of rule and can be arrested and imprisoned any time they criticize the authorities. It’s obvious that activists face terrible conditions purely for their beliefs and actions.

Download: Tortured Voices (300kb)

This report is about human courage and dignity. In face of the most stringent deprivation and under the harshest duress, man can stand up and show that there is still one freedom that can’t be taken away: the freedom to choose how to respond to the situation. The political prisoners of Insein could have chosen to bow to the use of force. Their spirit could have been broken by torture and solitary confinement. But instead, they have chosen to respond with calmness and nobility. Not only have they pleaded not guilty to the trumped up charges of the SLORC, they spoken out in their defense, defending their basic human rights and dignity and denouncing the unfair trail.

The report is an authentic document and in a sense a SLORC official document. It shows the perception and the standard used by the SLORC in as far as human rights are concerned. Writing, reading, drawing pictures, listening to radio programmes, communicating and other basic freedoms of expression are considered an offense liable to long years of imprisonment and hard labor.

As we read through this report, we can imagine the conditions of life in the infamous Insein prison. The image which came to my mind is one of a medieval goal. Only the instruments of torture may be different but the disregard of human life and the arbitrariness remain the same. This regime advocates law and order but there is only a farcical rule of law as SLORC governs by their own decrees and controls the courts of justice. This report confirms there is only a semblance of court proceedings, for no mater how weak the accusation, how valiant and accurate the defense, the sentence could have been written in advance. The courts of justice bow again to the higher raison d’etat which in this case is the survival of the regime.

Download: Pleading not guilty in Insein (130kb)