On Saturday I and Biak, the interpreter, took statements from 4 men who've arrived in the last month or so. They had all spent five years in prison for supporting the Chin National Front, and also for leaving the country illegally (by going to India without permission). For all of the terrible things I read about the Junta, it always amazes me that there seems to be no end to the new things I learn. I am also continually amazed at the apparent endurance and will of humans, both body and spirit. There were two interviews for the five, and it took at least four hours altogether. Four hours of listening to the ways they were tortured in interrogation; beaten, burned, strung up from the ceiling, and left without food or water for 6 days. The interrogators used a thick stick to beat them so it caused swelling and inflammation, but no bruises. Still, the stick was often broken.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) has recently released a report detailing the torture that happens in Burma's prisons. It seems apropos, then, that I should have the opportunity to blog about this now, however unfortunate that it should even exist as a subject to write about. One technique mentioned in the report involves the person being forced to sit on the ground, legs extended, while an iron rod is rolled along their shins. If that's not bad enough, one man described how an officer stood on the bar, and rolled it down his shins with his feet. For 10 minutes at a time over a couple hours. He said it was so painful sometimes he cried out. If someone did that to me, there'd be no 'crying out', I'd be screaming bloody murder from start to finish.

They were all sentenced to hard labor, but it seems that thanks to visits from the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), they were never sent to the labor camp. Hard labor for five years is tantamount to a death sentence. But, there are certainly no guarantees inside the normal prison. Bribes have to be paid continually to prevent abuse and harsh work details. The guards basically have the power of life and death inside the prison. With the poor diets they are fed, its common for prisoners to become ill, and thin, unable to eat. Apparently the guards have the ability to 'make someone thin', if they don't toe the line. Those who are unable to eat are given an IV drip. Everyone who received 'the drip' it seems, died within two days. Some were able to get medicine for themselves from their family, and through paying off the guards.

In listening, it seems that it would be the little, persistent, things that could make life most difficult, and seem almost petty on the part of the captors. Many people in southeast Asia are comfortable sleeping on the floor, so the fact that the prisoners do also is not necessarily a big deal. But there are also so many men (150 in a 60 x 30 room) in one room that they are forced to sleep on one side only - if they move in the night they are beaten. The sleeping mats are infested with mites, and if they tried to kill them or spray them - they are beaten. The guards sometimes stand outside and sling rocks onto the tin roofs of the rooms all night long.

Of course, the list could go on and on. I'm sure you don't have to speak with the people who were there to know how incredible and horrible the situation is. For me, the hardest part of the interview was at the very end, when they explained their personal feelings about being in Malaysia. As one mentioned how much they missed their families, having only three months between their release and fleeing to Malaysia, another man started to cry. A man who endured 4 days of torture before confessing, and who sat stoically through the whole interview, couldn't control his own tears over the loss of time with his family. Just thinking about it breaks my heart.