Aung Than Htun spent three and a half years of a five-year sentence in Irrawaddy division’s Myaungmya prison, before being released on 12 October. Now, he says, he will submit case material to the government-backed National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) documenting extensive abuse in the prison.
The former political prisoner claims he and other activists like him were beaten with batons by Myaungmya’s deputy chief warden, Ye Min Aung, on a regular basis.
Another inmate, Soe Thiha, from the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), is serving a life sentence in Myaungmya. Aung Than Htun claims he was beaten round the head so badly after questioning prison regulations that he suffered concussion, before being put in solitary confinement.
Abuse of inmates in Burma by prison officials is thought to be extensive. While Aung Than Htun claims that regular inmates were not spared, the torture of political prisoners is better documented, particularly during the interrogation phase when police attempt to extract information about opposition operations.
Lengthy spells in solitary confinement are common, as is the practice of transferring inmates to remote prisons far from their families. Often these are in Burma’s far-north border regions, where winters are harsh and hot season’s bringing the onset of rampant malaria. Rights groups claim the relocation of prisoners to remote jails may be tantamount to torture, given the huge distance needed to travel for visiting family members who are often an inmate’s only source for medication.