Date: 7th May, 2004

Ko Nay Lin Soe attempted suicide due to the depression caused by prison life. He slit his wrists and banged his head against concrete walls, and has since been transferred from Kale prison to Kale hospital.
His family noticed the injuries during their last visit. When asked about the obvious wounds, he did not speak. He was silent and catatonic throughout their meeting. Listless, he nodded and shook his head in response to their inquiries.
He also suffers from a cataract that impairs his vision.
In 1989, Ko Nay Lin Soe was arrested and sentenced to five years in Insein prison under the Emergency Act, Article 5(J). He was later transferred to Tharyarwaddy prison. He was arrested again in 1998 and sentenced under the same act to 14 years in Insein prison before being moved to Kale prison.
This is the second time he's suffered from suicidal depression during his current prison stay. Soon after he was transferred to Kale prison in 2002, he demanded that the warden send him to hospital to treat a chronic fever. He repeatedly pounded his head against the wall of his jail cell after his request was denied and sustained internal head injuries.
The similarity of the two events worries his family, who cannot easily see him. Kale prison is far from his family's home, making travel difficult. As one form of oppression, the SPDC regime routinely transfers political prisoners to remote prisons in order to cut them off from family contact.
The SPDC does not provide adequate health care and tortures political prisoners both physically and mentally, as the SPDC wants their health to deteriorate over time.
Ko Nay Lin Soe's family asked SPDC authorities to transfer him either to Mandalay prison or Insein prison where his health could be more closely and carefully monitored, but the SPDC authorities have not yet replied.
We condemn the systematic and brutal torture of political prisoners, which goes against international norms and violates prisoners' rights as indicated by the authorities' own Jail Manual. We believe such egregious abuse only harms the nation. Therefore, we urge governments, non-governmental organizations, and the United Nations to work for the release of all political prisoners and to denounce the systematic violation of human rights in Burma.

Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)