Appendix 1

While I was making a political speech at high school No. 5, the Township Council members arrested me. Thaung Nyunt, then in charge of my township council, arrested me and brought me to the township office. Having questioned me about my background, the military intelligence officers took me to the township police station. I was asked many questions again there, and then I was taken to the Yay-Kyi-I, notorious interrogation center.
I was ordered to stand in one place after another for half an hour, and then I was brought back. I had to sign an agreement not to participate in any political movements again. My father and his friends came there and also had to sign agreements promising to take me back home. My class teacher also had to meet the authorities. Eventually, I was expelled from my school.
I saw many people in my street who were believed to be military intelligence personnel before July 19th. I often had been to the students’ gathering points, like Shwedagon Pagoda and Myaynigoan in the downtown area. I even made a speech on the Shwedagon Pagoda.
I participated in the marching demonstration on 8-8-88 and I spent that night on the pagoda. The next morning, soon after I went down from the pagoda, I heard the noises of gunfire, shouting and screaming. I ran aimlessly and desperately with my friends and got to Windermere. We ran into an open compound and hid. I heard the noises of searching, shouting and pleading from next door. Soldiers finally arrested us.
We were taken to the nearby The Revolution Park and detained there for a long time. People were miserable because of thirst, starvation and the burning sun. Two hours later, we were put into military TE 11 trucks and taken to Insein prison. The cars were completely closed and, because it was the rainy season, the smell was foul, rotten and unbearable. Many people vomited and almost fainted. When the cars started moving, people nearby came out in the streets and hit the cars with stones. After driving for a long time, we reached Insein prison. This was my first time in notorious Insein prison.
There were also other women who had been in the march like me. There were 172 women - university students, government servants, hawkers, vendors and so on. Soon after we arrived, we were given bowls of rice, only nominal rice, hard like wood and with many small stones and paddy grains. The next day we were questioned group-by-group, 5 or 6 for a time. At my turn, I provided nonsense answers. The problem was that my name was on the list of the police station of my township, so I could not lie. Still, I kept on answering what I wanted. I only expected to be released.
While sleeping the next afternoon, I heard someone shout my name through the door. I was afraid a little but I pretended not to hear anything because there was another Aye Aye Khaing of South Okkalapa. Later I heard the shout - “Aye Aye Khaing of North Okkalapa.” Then I was very scared because I heard some stories of students being raped in March. I was scared because they called my name alone. I had to follow the female wardens who came to bring me. Then the real interrogation started. The main questions were: Why did you participate in the movements? Who did you connect with? Who gave you the money? Where did you have your seals made? After the interrogation that day, I was not taken back to my hall. I was put in a cell alone instead.
Even though I pleaded that they not to put me in that cell alone again and again, the authorities refused. I was taken from there in the morning to be questioned and was brought back in the evening for four days. While I was being questioned, I heard the military intelligence officers gossiping about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Bransai, Saw Bo Mya, and Khun Sar. I was released at the end of this month.
I participated again in political movements like memorial days of 8-8-88, red bridge, and martyrdom day. I was caught red handed and arrested again in 1989. The MI arrested me with a photo of All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), in which a female student is standing on a helmet of the regime’s army. They also found out that we set up a student organization. They took me to the township MI interrogation center first and questioned me. And then, I was sent to Yay-Kyi-I interrogation center. I was questioned for three and a half days without rest. The person who called himself Stone Giant questioned me. When I was dozing off, he pounded the table loudly. I was not allowed to lean on anything also. I was only allowed to have meals and drink. They accused me of being an underground member. I denied it because I was really not. They also accused me of connecting with my uncle, which I could not deny. But they released me to wait and see as bait.
I participated in every political uprising because I did not like that regime. That was why I expressed my feeling one way or another. I participated again in the 999 movement and I was arrested again as usual. I was put in the lock-up of my township police station. There I was not given any food because they said there was no food for a rebel.
My friend's father was in the male lock-up and he gave me food secretly. That was very dangerous for him. There was no security to sleep and to answer nature's calls because female lock-up was next to male and we could see everything. I was questioned there for a short time and was sent to Insein prison. They sent me to prison court, and the trial began. They accused me of stealing gold with a group. I became so enraged about that false accusation that policemen with guns came in to the court.
Soon after I was sent back to Insein prison there was a big strike while person in charge was doing his weekly rounds. The demand was to release political prisoners and to get full political prisoners' rights. We demonstrated along with the male political prisoners. The prison officers came in and ordered us not to demonstrate and also ordered the prisoner in charge of our ward compound to keep an eye on us. I had known that prisoner in charge since my first time in prison in 1988. She was for democracy and she was on our side. When prison officers returned, we shouted slogans and sang political songs again. I heard similar noises from the male compound. Prison authorities came in again and accused Daw Mi Mi of leading the strike. Dr. Soe Kyi, the prison doctor, slapped Ni Ni Aung’s cheek.
The next afternoon, while we female political prisoners were planning to do something in the evening, an abnormal criminal female prisoner informed on us to authorities. There were arrested students in front of our ward and they were being beaten. Because I shouted again, I was pulled out of my room. Malar Kyi and my comrades pulled me back but the wardens were stronger than them and I was pulled out and was beaten with a cane severely. The cane hit my eyes and tears ran down on my face. A scar by scratching was obvious until two years after I was released. After the severe beatings, I was moved to another ward.
There I was not allowed to contact other political prisoners. I was watched by a prisoner guard all the time. The next afternoon, I was ordered to do prison work as others. I told them, "My eyes hurt because you beat me hard. I am a political prisoner so I cannot obey your orders and cannot do that prison work." I decided to disobey and stand up to them if they beat me again. As I remember, the situation was so bad then. I heard that Hla Hla Than from another women's ward was beaten also and 3 prisoners in the male compound were killed by brutal beatings. The authorities tried to cover the voices of demonstration by dog barking. Because it did not work, they turned on the military marching songs with loudspeakers. Since then, visiting was banned for months.
I was released but again forced to sign agreements not to get involve in political movements again.