Appendix 2

Political parties emerged when political parties and organizations were allowed to set up after the coup. I supported some of the parties and politicians that I agreed with. For example, I became the Treasurer of the Democratic Party for New Society, Kyauktada Office. I supported and helped Daw Kyi Oo, the contestant of the Yankin Constituency, in the 1990 Election. Daw Kyi Oo was the mother of the comedian Zarganar, who was very famous in Burmese politics then.
I was arrested in February 1995 because of my participation in the demonstration at the funeral ceremony of the former Prime Minister U Nu. The regime wanted to bury U Nu at the Kyantaw Cemetery carelessly. We students did not agree that he should be buried in that cemetery because he was the former Prime Minister, and also the former chairperson of the ABFSU. On the day of the funeral, we sang revolutionary student songs, as the motorcade started moving towards the cemetery. At the cemetery, we demonstrated and voiced our demands. Moe Kalyar Oo made a speech there.
Three days later, I was arrested without any warrant at my home in the evening. Two women, one man and our quartermasters came to my house and said, “We want to meet Aye Aye Moe. We are the members of the NIB (National Intelligence Bureau).” Later, the two women took me, holding both my hands, to a car.
I was interrogated in an interrogation center from nine in the evening to four in the morning the next day. I was ordered to stand for three hours while being questioned. The Military Intelligence threatened me by hitting the wall with a belt and pounding the table. I was offered water, though not enough, and no food. I was only allowed to go to bathroom at noon once a day.
The officer Ye Nyunt of the Special Branch (SB) interrogated our case. Later, we heard he was promoted after our case. There were nine of us arrested altogether. The women were Cho Nwe Oo, Moe Kalyar Oo and I. The men were Aung Zaya, Maung Maung Oo, Moe Maung Maung, Moe Myat Thu, Nyunt Mying and Tin Than Oo.
Having been interrogated, I was put into Insein prison. Even when we were in prison, the superintendent of the prison could not decide where we would be placed, only the MI decided. Moe Kalyar Oo and I were put into a cell, ten by ten and totally enclosed. There were two bowls to dispose of waste, a pot of water for both drinking and cleaning, a mat, a pillow and a blanket for us in the cell. We were only allowed to go out to take a bath once a day during our fifty days there.
We were put on trial in a court inside the prison compound on April 5, 1995. The judge who sentenced us was Myo Myint Aung. The witness on the side of the court was introduced as Htun Hla Aung. I do not know if this was his real name or a fake name. We only had a chance to meet all nine of our casemates at the court. We were charged under the Emergency Provision Act, Section 5 (J). We were not allowed to obtain our own lawyers and were not given our legal right to defend ourselves. Our families and friends were also not allowed to be present at the court.
We were accused of many things in the court by the authorities. We were accused of going to U Nu’s everyday for the funeral, having many discussions with U Aung, son of U Nu, and of planning to steal the corpse and so on.
The authorities brought a witness to the court. That witness did not look at us, he only looked at the judge while he was speaking. It was obvious by listening to his speech that he had memorized our names by heart in order to be a witness at the court. He spoke lies and nonsense about our case, and was clearly not a real witness. For example, the witness said he saw our casemate, Maung Maung Oo, going to U Nu’s house every day. In fact, Maung Maung Oo only came to the funeral. He said I wore lipstick that was deep red, but actually this is not my style. The witness intentionally told the court that we purposefully prepared to demonstrate. In fact, we did not prepare to demonstrate in advance.
Whenever we were taken to the court, troops and police would stand guard at the court. We were sentenced to seven years in prison each with hard labor on April 28, 1995. As soon as we were sentenced, we were sent back to the prison. I was not upset at the time; I only smiled and felt somewhat relieved because I had prepared for the worst.
The health care system in Insein prison was very bad. We were offered only oxytetra for whatever we suffered from: oxytetra for stomachache, oxytetra for fever, oxytetra for backache and so on. Therefore, we had to count on our families for medicine. We had to use our own syringes, spirits and even bandages. For food, during my whole prison term, I lived on my family support.
It was very difficult to answer nature’s call because there was no toilet for us and we had to use earthen bowl as toilet. Because we were not able to get used to the bowl, sewage was strained and spilled around whenever we answered nature’s call. Therefore, our cell was very foul and unclean. We had to bear it, as we had to live in that cell almost all day. We demanded the authorities let us clean the bowl after we answered nature’s call. But we were refused and were allowed only two times to go out to clean it.
After I was sentenced, I was allowed to go outside to walk, one hour a day.
Prison authorities surprisingly searched our cells on January 8, 1997. They found some forbidden things in my cell like a knitting needle and a small knife to chop onions. Therefore, I was beaten severely by a female officer, Ohnmar Oo, and other female wardens. That was the first time in my life I had been beaten.
I was transferred to Tharawaddy prison on November 15, 1997. Altogether five female political prisoners, my casemate Moe Kalyar Oo, the 1996 December Demonstration participants Thin Thin Aye, Lay Lay Mon, and Ei Shwe Zin Nyunt and I, were transferred. We did not know about our transfer in advance. The then superintendent of Insein prison was Lu Hla.
At the main entrance of Tharawaddy prison, our belongings were seized. We used these things for our health needs. These were antiseptic soap for ladies, powder kegs, jackets and pants. They told us they had seized these because they were not in accordance with the prison rules.
The next day, we were offered so called rice, the color was a brownish red and hard like wood so that we could not eat it. Five female political prisoners went on a hunger strike for three days, demanding a change in the quality of the rice. Directors from the Prison Department came to Tharawaddy prison to investigate the cause of the hunger strike. Since then, we were offered hospital rations. The ordinary ration for every one, Paunsan, was only a bowl of rice and bean soup and a spoonful of fish paste for lunch, and a bowl of rice and vegetable soup for dinner with a spoonful of fish paste. Hospital rations were a piece of meat, and two eggs for a prisoner everyday.
The most difficult problem in Tharawaddy prison was water. Sometimes, we were not allowed to take a bath because of the lack of water. Sometimes, there was almost no water for drinking. When we faced problems such as this, we were not depressed, but very angry with the prison authorities. There was only a long trough of tepid water for both ordinary female and political prisoners to take a bath, from which the prisoners were allowed to draw only minimal amounts of water to use for washing. Ordinary prisoners were allowed to take bathes before us. Among ordinary prisoners, there were also disease-infected prisoners with leprosies and scabies, which caused the water to be disease ridden.
In Tharawaddy prison, I lived with Moe Kalyar Oo, Yee Yee Tun, Ma Chu, Daw Ohn Mya, Lay Lay Mon, Thin Thin Aye, Thi Thi Aung, Ei Shwe Zin and Nilar Thein. We were ten altogether. The then superintendent of Tharawaddy prison was Win Myint. I remember some of the officers at that time in the prison. Some were female jailors, Khin Win Win Mar, Daw Aye Myint and Daw Khin Mya Yi. The male prison officers were Hla Tun, Tin Aye, Zaw Win and Tin Tun.
Almost all female political prisoners suffered one thing or another. The most commonly suffered diseases were gout, damage to nerves and some female diseases.
The International Committee of Red Cross, ICRC, came to visit Tharawaddy while we were there. We could inform them that we did not have any prisoner rights. Before the ICRC visit, the prison was painted and mended. The prison authorities were very busy like bees. Therefore, we noticed this strangeness. Even officers from Rangoon Headquarters came and asked us about our health.
On November 3, 1999, Director Shwe Kyaw arrived and said, “There are some visitors with me who want to meet you.” The visitors were foreigners. We came to know they were from ICRC by the badges on their chests.
This was the first time in my prison term that I met the ICRC. After their visit, some conditions in the prison were changed. The prison authorities allowed us to go out to clean our sewage bowls whenever we wanted. After the ICRC visit, prison authorities built a special trough for female political prisoners. Before the ICRC visit, the prison authorities closed the cell doors at once after we cleaned the sewage bowls in the morning. But after the visit, they allowed us to be outside of our cells until noon, which was the prison closing time. We learnt that the ICRC provided medicine and some other things for the prisoners. But these were not seen.
I completed my prison term and was released on April 18, 2001. My family and also I did not know about my release date in advance.
After my release, my family did not want me to talk with my friends in my house for very long. Therefore, my family and I frequently quarreled. They worried about me and did not want me to be arrested again.
The main reason why I fled from Burma was the National Convention. The political situation in Burma was very tense because the National League for Democracy refused to attend the sham National Convention. Therefore, some of my comrades and I headed for the Thai-Burma border in May 2004 because we did not want to be arrested again.