Tortured Voices: Personal Accounts of Burma's Interrogation Centers
The personal accounts of the nine former Burmese political prisoners in this book reflect the strength and courage of those involved in the pro-democracy movement in Burma. The testimonies are honest and harrowing accounts of what occurs inside Burma's military Interrogation Centres and reveal the perverted mentality of the brutal and paranoid military state that rules Burma.
The contributors to this book were detained, interrogated and tortured by Burma's Military Intelligence Service (MIS) for their belief in democracy and universal human rights. Their accounts of what happened to them immediately after arrest show the cruel and barbaric lengths to which the Burmese military is prepared to go to extract information and false confessions from opposition supporters.
Most of the former political prisoners in this book were detained for their involvement in student unions, while others were held for being involved in peaceful demonstrations or for their association with the National League for Democracy (NLD). Each author tells a remarkably similar story of how he or she was blindfolded and handcuffed when arrested, and then brutally interrogated and tortured at an MIS Interrogation Centre before being forced to sign a 'confession'.
The authors cite many similar methods of torture used by the MIS. They include beatings, abuse, threats of death and rape, electrocution, sleep deprivation, forcing people to stand or squat in uncomfortable positions for long periods such as in the 'motorbike' position, rolling iron or bamboo rods along a person's shins, pouring water over a person's head covered in plastic, denial of food and water, denial of medical treatment, forcing people to kneel on sharp stones and hanging by the arms and feet.
Following their interrogation and torture by the MIS, all the contributors to this book were summarily tried and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. They were not allowed access to legal counsel and in many cases were not even told what they had been charged with.
All but one were sent to the notorious Insein Prison in Rangoon, where most political prisoners in Burma are sent at some time. The prison is infamous for torture and cruelty to political prisoners and its appalling conditions. After their release from prison, most of the authors eventually fled Burma to the relative safety of the Thai-Burma border and currently live in exile. A short biography of each author precedes his or her personal account.
One former political prisoner, Moe Aye, has contributed an account of the last days of Mr James Leander Nichols, who died in the custody of the MIS in June 1996. Mr Nichols was the honorary consul to Denmark, Norway, Finland and Switzerland when he died during his incarceration at Insein Special Prison. Moe Aye was a prisoner at Insein at the same time as Mr Nichols. Moe Aye saw him arrive at the prison, watched his condition deteriorate as a result of the constant interrogation sessions, and was there when the MIS took Mr Nichols away for the last time.
Moe Aye's account of Mr Nichols' last days has attracted substantial international interest, particularly in Scandinavian countries. The account is to be used as evidence in a lawsuit that Mr. Nichols' son, Bill Nichols, is expected to bring against the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), formerly known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC).
Throughout Burma some 20 primary detention centres have been identified where brutal interrogations and torture takes place. These centres include the notorious Ye Kyi Aing complex outside Rangoon, and centres in Rangoon and seven over divisions and states across the country-1. The MIS relies on thousands of agents and informers to carry out surveillance not only on political dissidents, students and members of the public, but also members of the armed forces, expatriates and foreigners abroad who are actively involved in Burma's pro-democracy movement.
The National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) oversees all of Burma's intelligence agencies and is under the direct control of the SPDC. Under this national bureau is the Directorate of Defence Services Intelligence (DDSI) which is commonly known as the Military Intelligence Service. The MIS was established in 1958 and throughout the Revolutionary Council and Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) periods from 1962-1988, it became the means by which the regime eliminated opposition to military rule.
Even greater reliance was placed on the country's military intelligence apparatus under the SLORC, and resources to the MIS have subsequently increased. Since 1988 there have been reports that a number of countries have provided training and assistance to Burma's intelligence services. China has reportedly provided technical equipment and training, Singapore is thought to be training members of Burma's 'secret police', and Israel's intelligence agency Mossad is rumoured to also have provided training-2.
Under the SLORC, which renamed itself the State Peace and Development Council in November 1997, the MIS has been responsible for most of the reported arrests and investigations of political suspects. It has also often been accused of brutality and using torture as part of its interrogations. The units most often cited by human rights groups as carrying out gross human rights abuses have been Military Intelligence Service Unit 6 (MI-6), MI-7 and MI-14, all based in Rangoon, and MI-16 in Mandalay.
The MIS uses both physical and psychological methods of torture. When political prisoners arrive at an interrogation centre, the MIS first breaks down their confidence and morale. The prisoners are treated like animals and made to believe that they have no alternative but to confess what they know. They are also not allowed to sleep from between three to seven days, and are usually not fed for three days or given any water for two days.
Prisoners are also made to experience fear through various methods of torture. This includes blindfolding prisoners or placing hoods over their heads, and using fake screams from nearby rooms. Most prisoners admit they experience more fear at MIS interrogation centres than during the beatings and torture in prison.
One method used by the MIS to instill fear into prisoners is by playing upon phobias. For instance, when the MIS interrogated a highly respected businessman in his 60s, they knew that he was afraid of snakes. They consequently forced him into a pit of snakes and he later recalled he was absolutely terrified. A leader of the All Burma Basic Education Student Union (ABBESU), Ye Maw Htoo, also suffers from a phobia of snakes. During his interrogation the MIS told him to remove a hood that had been placed over his head. To his terror he saw a snake moving towards his legs preparing to bite him and he passed out.
The MIS would also tell a blindfolded prisoner to press a button and not release it, and then tell the prisoner that he's holding a bomb. The MIS would tell the prisoner that if he released the button the bomb would explode. They would then leave the room. After hours of pressing the button the prisoner's hands would shake, but he would dare not release the button. Eventually, when the prisoner couldn't hold the button down anymore, he would be forced to release it no matter what the consequences. However, there was never any bomb. It was just way to instill fear in prisoners. This method of torture was used on Nyi Nyi Htun, a member of the NLD Youth in Tanyin Township in Rangoon. He was forced to confess to the bombing of the Tanyin Oil Refinery compound in 1989, although he had nothing to do with the incident. He was subsequently given the death penalty and he remains in Insein Prison.
In July 1989, the SLORC cracked down on suspected members of the underground network of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB). There were 107 arrests in all, and the MIS selected a group of four of them, shaved their heads, and forced them into pits in the ground. They were buried up to their necks with only their heads above ground. They had read about this torture in books and thought that the MIS would pour honey over their heads and release red ants on them. However, a group of soldiers arrived instead and began to kick their heads with their heavy combat boots.
Former prisoners tell of many other forms of torture. The well known and respected general secretary of the People's Progressive Party (PPP), U Hla Shwe, who is in his 50s, recalled that he was forced to stand on his toes for hours during an interrogation. Sharp pins were placed under his heels and eventually when he couldn't stand on his toes any longer, he was forced to step down onto the pins. One prisoner who was arrested for having alleged connections with the Karen National Union (KNU) was tortured in yet another way. The MIS pulled a soft plastic bag over his head and then kept pouring water over him. He said it felt like a bomb was exploding on his head, and that his head was breaking into pieces and his ears were being blown off.
Electrocution is another method of torture frequently used by the MIS. One of the leaders of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), Myint San, was told to press a button during his interrogation. Since he had a hood over his head he couldn't see what it was. As he pressed the button he received a series of electric shocks and his body twitched and shook all over. Some prisoners would ask the MIS to make a phone call. A device, which looked like a headset, would then be fastened over the prisoner's head and a series of electric shocks would be delivered to him. According to these prisoners, the torture felt like a pointed iron rod was being driven through one's ear.
People arrested by the Military Intelligence Service are forced to call their friends to arrange a meeting so the MIS can arrest more people. These arrests can happen in broad daylight. Sometimes the wives of suspects are also arrested, beaten and interrogated, and new-born babies or infants are taken while their parents are being interrogated. Under such conditions a political activist is forced to turn himself in and can't run away for fear of reprisals against his wife, his parents, or his brothers and sisters. For this reason, many people don't run away even if they are warned that a government crackdown is imminent.
Prisoners are persuaded through various means to believe that their friends have already confessed to certain things, and that they can therefore tell their interrogators what they know about their friends. For instance, the MIS makes a prisoner believe that his friend, who was probably arrested along with him, has told them everything by making up stories from certain bits of information. This has an effect even on the most resolute. Prisoners then believe that their friends have become traitors and they are likely to confess all of what they know.
In order to break down a prisoner's confidence the MIS is also likely to tell the prisoner that they know all about him, using bits of information from other prisoners and forcing him to confess to his supposed crimes. Psychological torture is used in the latter days of the interrogation process. When a prisoner is in bad shape from physical torture, the MIS switch to using more psychological techniques so that the prisoner will not lose consciousness. The MIS avoids letting a prisoner lose consciousness because he or she is then not able to answer any questions and will have to be sent out for medical treatment.
Many of these interrogation techniques and methods of torture are mentioned in the personal accounts in this book. Over the past 35 years of military rule in Burma, tens of thousands of people opposed to the military's iron-rule have been detained, interrogated and tortured by the intelligence agencies. There are currently up to 2,000 political prisoners in Burma, all of whom would have been interrogated by the MIS upon their arrest and all of whom would have their own stories of torture and suffering to tell.
