Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07RANGOON1112
2007-11-16 02:58:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Rangoon
Cable title:
TORTURED DETAINEE SURVIVES BURMESE PRISON
how-toVZCZCXRO8083 OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH DE RUEHGO #1112/01 3200258 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 160258Z NOV 07 ZDK FM AMEMBASSY RANGOON TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6832 INFO RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0705 RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 4242 RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 7796 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 5356 RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 1220 RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1140 RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 001112
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, AND IO
PACOM FOR FPA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/15/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM
SUBJECT: TORTURED DETAINEE SURVIVES BURMESE PRISON
REF: RANGOON 1099
RANGOON 00001112 001.6 OF 002
Classified By: Political Officer Chelsia Wheeler for
Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 001112
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, AND IO
PACOM FOR FPA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/15/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM
SUBJECT: TORTURED DETAINEE SURVIVES BURMESE PRISON
REF: RANGOON 1099
RANGOON 00001112 001.6 OF 002
Classified By: Political Officer Chelsia Wheeler for
Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)
1. (C) Summary. The chairman of an NLD township branch
discussed the torture he underwent at interrogation centers
and at Insein prison. USDA thugs arrested him on September
26 and sent him to interrogation centers for several days of
torture and questioning, before transferring him to Insein
Prison where he stayed until his October 25 release. Even
though he met discontented low-level officials, he maintains
doubts Than Shwe and other senior leaders are sincere in
promoting dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi. End Summary.
The arrest
--------------
2. (C) NLD Pabaedan Township Chairman Htay Lwin met on
November 14 with Poloff to discuss his recent month-long
detention. USDA thugs, apparently wielding full arrest
authority, seized him along with approximately 17 other
protesters and monks on September 26, the first day of the
brutal government crackdown. The thugs loaded the entire
group into waiting trucks which contained other protesters,
some of whom had been tied down. They were all transferred
to the interrogation camp at the Government Technological
Institute (GTI),along with hundreds of other demonstrators
from all over the city.
Torture at interrogations centers
--------------
3. (C) Htay Lwin spent five days in two separate
interrogation centers, and witnessed police and thugs beating
the prisoners with rubber sticks and forcing them to hold
their hands over their heads and kneel. During his
imprisonment, he observed approximately thirty monks, whose
bodies revealed bruises and cuts from beatings they received.
He noted that younger monks appeared to be more severely
injured. When being transferred between interrogation camps,
police forced prisoners to lie face-down on truck beds,
although he said that one officer gave him a towel to rest
his chin on to cushion his ride. While in the interrogation
camps, police denied Htay Lwin food and often hit him. Their
goal, he said, was to obtain a confession from him. The
police wanted him to admit that not only did the NLD secretly
lead the monk protests, but they also altered the protests
from their original religious tone to a more political one.
Conditions at Insein slightly more humane
--------------
4. (C) In comparison to the interrogation camps, conditions
at Insein Prison where he arrived on September 29 were
better, Htay Lwin commented. Younger officers treated him
with some degree of respect, and the beatings ceased.
Nevertheless, he described the food as not fit even for dogs
and said that police and intelligence officers awakened him
nightly for extensive questioning. The police also denied
him medical care, which he needed for a broken leg and for
his chronic high blood pressure. He suffered from severe
depression while in detention and wondered how people who
lived there for years could remain sane.
Dissatisfaction among low-level government employees
-------------- --------------
5. (C) Throughout the arrest and detention process, Htay Lwin
observed several instances of dissatisfaction among low-level
government employees. Younger officers at the prison were
less inclined to torture him, and one ex-soldier, who is now
a prisoner, told him that the conditions for prisoners were
often better than soldiers' field conditions, where food was
not always available. Despite this discontent, Htay Lwin
expressed pessimism about the future for Burma. He said that
the government is using the facade of talks with Aung San Suu
Kyi to buy enough time to destroy the NLD. He remains
RANGOON 00001112 002.2 OF 002
committed to the cause of democracy and was happy to see that
a new generation had taken up the banner during the protests
in September.
Comment
--------------
6. (C) Htay Lwin's account corroborates those of others also
detained at GTI. His belief that the government is not
genuinely interested in dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi echoes
a wide-spread pessimism from a large part of the
pro-democracy activists who have seen the regime sabotage
previous dialogues with ASSK. The fact that arrests continue
further raises doubts about the Than Shwe regime's sincerity
in pursuing genuine dialogue and reconciliation.
VILLAROSA
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, AND IO
PACOM FOR FPA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/15/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM
SUBJECT: TORTURED DETAINEE SURVIVES BURMESE PRISON
REF: RANGOON 1099
RANGOON 00001112 001.6 OF 002
Classified By: Political Officer Chelsia Wheeler for
Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)
1. (C) Summary. The chairman of an NLD township branch
discussed the torture he underwent at interrogation centers
and at Insein prison. USDA thugs arrested him on September
26 and sent him to interrogation centers for several days of
torture and questioning, before transferring him to Insein
Prison where he stayed until his October 25 release. Even
though he met discontented low-level officials, he maintains
doubts Than Shwe and other senior leaders are sincere in
promoting dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi. End Summary.
The arrest
--------------
2. (C) NLD Pabaedan Township Chairman Htay Lwin met on
November 14 with Poloff to discuss his recent month-long
detention. USDA thugs, apparently wielding full arrest
authority, seized him along with approximately 17 other
protesters and monks on September 26, the first day of the
brutal government crackdown. The thugs loaded the entire
group into waiting trucks which contained other protesters,
some of whom had been tied down. They were all transferred
to the interrogation camp at the Government Technological
Institute (GTI),along with hundreds of other demonstrators
from all over the city.
Torture at interrogations centers
--------------
3. (C) Htay Lwin spent five days in two separate
interrogation centers, and witnessed police and thugs beating
the prisoners with rubber sticks and forcing them to hold
their hands over their heads and kneel. During his
imprisonment, he observed approximately thirty monks, whose
bodies revealed bruises and cuts from beatings they received.
He noted that younger monks appeared to be more severely
injured. When being transferred between interrogation camps,
police forced prisoners to lie face-down on truck beds,
although he said that one officer gave him a towel to rest
his chin on to cushion his ride. While in the interrogation
camps, police denied Htay Lwin food and often hit him. Their
goal, he said, was to obtain a confession from him. The
police wanted him to admit that not only did the NLD secretly
lead the monk protests, but they also altered the protests
from their original religious tone to a more political one.
Conditions at Insein slightly more humane
--------------
4. (C) In comparison to the interrogation camps, conditions
at Insein Prison where he arrived on September 29 were
better, Htay Lwin commented. Younger officers treated him
with some degree of respect, and the beatings ceased.
Nevertheless, he described the food as not fit even for dogs
and said that police and intelligence officers awakened him
nightly for extensive questioning. The police also denied
him medical care, which he needed for a broken leg and for
his chronic high blood pressure. He suffered from severe
depression while in detention and wondered how people who
lived there for years could remain sane.
Dissatisfaction among low-level government employees
-------------- --------------
5. (C) Throughout the arrest and detention process, Htay Lwin
observed several instances of dissatisfaction among low-level
government employees. Younger officers at the prison were
less inclined to torture him, and one ex-soldier, who is now
a prisoner, told him that the conditions for prisoners were
often better than soldiers' field conditions, where food was
not always available. Despite this discontent, Htay Lwin
expressed pessimism about the future for Burma. He said that
the government is using the facade of talks with Aung San Suu
Kyi to buy enough time to destroy the NLD. He remains
RANGOON 00001112 002.2 OF 002
committed to the cause of democracy and was happy to see that
a new generation had taken up the banner during the protests
in September.
Comment
--------------
6. (C) Htay Lwin's account corroborates those of others also
detained at GTI. His belief that the government is not
genuinely interested in dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi echoes
a wide-spread pessimism from a large part of the
pro-democracy activists who have seen the regime sabotage
previous dialogues with ASSK. The fact that arrests continue
further raises doubts about the Than Shwe regime's sincerity
in pursuing genuine dialogue and reconciliation.
VILLAROSA