In the Flames of Evil 2

by Win Naing Oo

I was transferred from MI-14 to another place, which I later learnt was MI-6. Before they sent me to MI-6 they told me that it was the biggest military intelligence department, that it had all the facts about us, and that the people there knew everything.
They are rougher and tougher than us, they added, 'however we won't send you there if you tell us all the details you haven't yet told us.'
I didn't say anything, but their warnings worried me. Later, when I was trying to recall all that had happened to me, I remembered that it was May 23 when I was transferred to MI-6.
When I arrived I was taken to room, ordered to sit in a chair and was then left alone. Neither the hood nor the handcuffs had been removed. It was even stuffier than the room at MI-14. After about three hours I began to have difficulty breathing. I was later told by people who had gone through the same experience that this room was completely sealed and some kind of gas was pumped in to make it difficult to breathe. The hood was smelly now and I thought of taking it off, but I dared not. At that moment, I felt that presence of someone watching me from across the room. Because of the warnings from the people at MI-14, I was even more worried than usual. I was dripping with sweat and my thoughts were so confused that I became dizzy and I almost fell off the chair a few times. I couldn't stand it any longer, I had to do something.
At last I heard the door open. Someone led me out of the room and into another. It was easier to breathe in this room and cooler as well. I didn't know whether it was day or night but the room was dazzlingly bright. A moment later I heard people come in. From their footsteps I reckoned there were quite a few of them. They sat facing me and didn't say a word. After a while one of them spoke in a casual tone, but his voice was sharp and penetrating and felt as though it was piercing my eardrums.
"The place that you just left, was it very bad?" the officer asked.
"Yes, it was."
"You have not been allowed to sleep for a long time, have you?"
"I haven't been allowed to sleep since I was detained."
"Do you know what this place it?"
"No. I have no idea", I replied.
"What did they tell you about this place before you left?"
"They said this is the biggest department."
" The place that you just left, was it very bad?" the officer repeated.
"It was very bad."
"How bad is that?"
"I wasn't allowed to sleep,' I began. 'They gave me food just once before I was sent here. They didn't give me any water for two days. They beat me and abused me all the time.'
They stopped asking questions and I heard them whispering among themselves. I didn't know what they were talking about. My ears were buzzing. I could hardly steady myself, and I became dizzy whenever I tried to catch what they were saying. After a while I heard one of them speak.
'I have told them over and over again not to treat you guy this badly. They don't listen to me. Idiots! I'll punish them.'
He called them names and I felt greatly relieved. But then I began to suspect that their friendliness was just a ploy, and that they were just as brutal as the other people. They asked a few questions about my personal details, questions which I had already answered a million times.
'By the way, you have two sisters-in-law, right?'
I assumed that they had studied my answers from MI-14. 'Yes,' I replied.
'I don't see one of their names.'
'I don't really recall their names. I tried, but I couldn't remember.'
'I heard them laugh. One of them quipped,' It's a pity that you don't recall the names of your own sisters-in-law.' The interrogator continued, 'Okay. We'll take off the hood and give you some rice. But I can't guarantee whether you'll be allowed to sleep or not because it all depends on you. And I doubt that you'll be allowed to sleep tonight as we are running out of time. At night we interrogate in shifts, so you won't be allowed to sleep, but we will. Now I'll tell you a little bit about our department. No one has left this room without telling us what he knows. Have you seen sugar cane being squeezed between two rollers?'
'Yes, I have.'
'You'll be squeezed like sugar cane if you don't answer the questions correctly. You understand?'
'Yes,' I said, but I thought to myself they'll never know whether or not I'm answering the questions correctly.
'We have collected a lot of facts about you. They are almost complete. Now take pity on yourself. You look like shit. You know that, don't you? So you have to take pity on yourself. Nobody else will, will they?'
'No.'
'What the people said at the place you just left is true. We are the biggest department. Aung Gyi has sat where you are sitting now. Tin Oo and Thakin Tin Mya have also sat here1. They had to confess all they knew. It is no use trying to hide anything from us in this kind of situation. You best remember that.'
I heard them stand up and walk out. Then I heard one of them shout back to someone who was still in the room, 'Close the door and take off the hood.'
The hood was removed and a bright light blinded me. I closed my eyes and tried to open them again and it took me a while before I could see. But then I felt greatly relieved, and I was able to breathe more easily. I saw a man about 40 years old standing in front of me. He was training his eyes on me. He had a plain but hard-looking face. He was wearing a big gold chain around his neck, and a gold watch stood out on his wrist against his brown skin. He was stout and had a few pockmarks on his face.
'You're a final year student from the Rangoon Institute of Technology, aren't you?' he asked.
'Yes.'
'You're an educated person. We'll treat you politely since you were treated badly at the previous place.'
I remained silent.
'My first question is….Does Max work for the CIA?'
'I don't know,' I said. Max worked for a religious organisation based in Bangkok and I had met him earlier that year.
'Don't pretend. I'm treating you as politely as I can. I'll ask you the same questions again. Does Max work for the CIA?'
'I have no idea. He may be from the CIA, or he may work for a Christian organisation.'
'He works for the CIA, and you know it.'
'If he's CIA, there's no way I could know. They're well trained,' I replied.
'Admit that he's CIA.'
'I really don't know. But there's only one way to determine if he is.'
'That's a good boy. Now tell me what it is.'
'You must catch Max and interrogate him,' I said.
With that the man suddenly stood up and started beating me and shouting abuse at me. To this day I don't know why I answered as I did. I fell off the chair and couldn't get up from the floor.
'You're good for nothing!' he was shouting. 'You're not educated, you're a fucking stupid liar! You're inferior! You're nothing but a dirty beggar!'
He started kicking me. I couldn't say anything, I just grunted and groaned every time he hit and kicked me. I couldn't even cry out in pain. He then helped me back on to the chair. However I couldn't steady myself, so he went out and came back with a rope and tied me to the chair. I began to groan and then he suddenly quietened down. Could it be that he was starting to feel sorry for me, or was it just that he felt content after having beaten me?
'Okay, now, write down the Four Phases plan for me. I'll go out for a while,' he said.
He took off the handcuffs and when he left I started to write. I think I wrote a lot. The Four Phases Plan was to have been carried out three months before the 1990 elections, but in fact we weren't able to carry it out. I was wondering how they knew about the plan. Who had told them? Had they obtained a copy of it somehow? My morale was very low. I began to wonder how this information was leaked from the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) headquarters and to doubt the standard of security there.
He came back in after a while and read what I had written but didn't say anything.
'Okay, one more thing,' he said.
'What the committee to carry out Special Tasks?'
I was horrified. They must have obtained a copy of everything from the headquarters. I felt like crying. I felt rejected. I felt as if my parents had disowned me. I later found out that they got all this information from Aung Hein, who treacherously ran away with three months of the ABSDF's supply money and who was arrested on his way back into Burma.
'I have nothing to do with that committee,' I said, 'and I don't know anything about it. Only the people at the headquarters know about it. We work on a need to know basis only.'
'But surely, you know who has been assigned to this committee.'
I had to rack my brain to make up an answer, for I knew that I could get out of this if I told him something.
'Yes, I know of someone,' I said, though in fact I didn't know anything. All that I knew was that no one had yet been assigned to the committee.
'Tell me his name.'
'Than Zaw,' I replied. I don't know how I came up with this name.
'How old is he?'
'25.'
'Describe him.'
I was in trouble, but had to say something. 'He is brown, and has protruding eyes, curly hair and big nose.'
'Height?'
'I think he is about five-foot-six.'
'Where does he live?'
'Kyimyindine.'
'How many times have you met him?'
' I met him only once in Bangkok. We haven't met since then. I don't know him well.'
Than Zaw didn't exist. I was just trying to make up an imaginary person from the description of a friend of mine. At the same time I was telling myself not to forget the facts that I'd just told him. I had to memorise them for if I gave him a different description the next time, I'd be dead.
'Do you think he's in Rangoon now?' he continued.
'I think so.'
'Do you know where his house is?'
'I don't know.'
'Okay. You want a coffee?'
'Yes.'
He left the room and soon returned with a cup of coffee. 'Now you understand that if you treat us properly, we'll treat you the same. You've seen the light. You're getting close to having a chance to sleep. Take pity on yourself.'
My interrogator asked me questions almost all night. Most of the questions were the same as what I was asked at MI-14. At one point he asked, 'What did you write in the letter that you asked Aung Din to deliver to Min Ko Naing2?'
This question was another shock and it made me very frightened. The letter had been given to Min Ko Naing about a month before he was arrested and I couldn't figure out where he got this information. Again, I later discovered in prison that the MIS questioned both Aung Din and Min Ko Naing at an Interrogation Centre and acquired some facts regarding my connections and work.
'It was just a short letter, nothing important,' I said. 'Min Ko Naing said that he would leave for India and I just wanted to tell him that I thought he shouldn't leave, and that if he did he wouldn't be able to do anything there. I also told him in the letter that I couldn't take any responsibility for what might happen. I urged him to stay inside the country no matter what happened. It was at that time that I had just returned from the Indian border.'
The repeated questions and answers were making me very sleepy. I wished I were insane. 'Is it almost dawn?' I wondered to myself. Suddenly, I heard something that made the drowsiness in me disappear. It was the noises and screams coming from the next room.
'Tell me!' I could hear someone shout, 'Tell me what Win Naing Oo has been doing in Rangoon. Tell me who he met with.'
'I don't know. He didn't tell me anything!' someone was pleading.
Then came a hard thump following by a painful scream. 'Tell me about the Four Phases plan,' the interrogator continued. Another hard thump, followed by another painful cry.
'I don't know anything about it,' came the reply.
Oh my God! That was Aung Thu's voice! The thump sounded like he was being hit in the chest and that he was crying from the beating. I felt terrible. I felt as though it was me who was being hit.
'I don't know,' Aung Thu was pleading. 'He didn't tell me. I don't know.'
He was being beaten again and I could still hear his screams. Then I think I must have gone insane. I was so angry I cried out loud, 'Please stop it! Please! You are so barbaric, so cruel! He's telling the truth! He doesn't know anything! I'm the one who's responsible! Why are you torturing people who don't know anything, who haven't been responsible for anything? If you want to torture someone, come and torture me you filthy animals!
The screams and sounds from the next room stopped. I was trembling with rage and madness.
A while later, I heard the sounds of a struggle, and someone groaning. It sounded like my friend Wai Lin. I could hear the rustle of plastic, the sound water splashing, and someone gasping for breath. It sounded as if his head was being covered with a plastic bag, and water was being poured over him. I could hear the muffled sounds of him struggling to get out of the bag that was strangling him. The struggling and gasping sounds were hideous.
'You evil bastards!' I shouted.
I stood up and kicked the chair. At that moment I must have looked like a wild animal wounded and in pain. I remember the tears rolling down my face. The man in front of me stood up and walked out of the room. He closed the door behind him. I continued wailing. I didn't know what I was shouting. The noises from the adjacent room ceased and at that moment three or four people came into my room. They gripped me tightly, pushed me onto the floor facedown, and held me there. I was still shouting and I think I was given an injection, for I don't remember what happened next. When I came around, I found myself handcuffed to a chair. There were four interrogators in the room and they looked relaxed. They asked me questions that whole day, but now I can barely recall any of what was said.
They allowed me to sleep that night. I could not answer any more questions. I was numb. The following day they woke me early in the morning and brought me into a room. Aung Thu and Wai Lin were also brought in. They took a video of all three of us, pulled the hoods over our heads again and forced us into a van. We were taken to the Special Branch office and only then were the hoods taken off.
Later, when I was taken to Insein Prison, I told Aung Thu and Wai Lin that I had heard them both being torture at MI-6 headquarters. However I was surprised to hear that they hadn't been tortured in the manner that I'd heard. I was sure I'd heard them with my own ears, so I was confused and I didn't know what to say. They said that I must have been in a state of delirium. However, it only began to make sense when an old experienced prisoner explained to us what he knew. He said it was likely that I did hear beating and screaming from the next room and that the MIS would either have been playing a cassette tape, or acted the whole thing out with their own people. The aim was to anger, frighten and upset me so that I would tell them what I knew. Other people have also experienced this.
Aung Thu, Wai Lin and I were summarily tried at Military Count No.1 located opposite Insein Prison in Rangoon. I remember the date, it was May 25, 1990, two days before the May 27 elections. In fact, the trial was nothing more than a reading out of the charges against us by a Special Branch officer. I listened to the charges and most of them were a complete fabrication and there were things that I had never said. After the charges were read out, the court was adjourned for about 10 minutes. When it resumed, the judge read out the sentences. I rejoiced when I heard my sentence of 13 years imprisonment. This was much more lenient than I had expected. I had thought that I would be given 20 years and had therefore considered myself a dead person. That was why I felt relieved. I smiled at Aung Thu and Wai Lin and they smiled awkwardly back at me. Later I found out that I had actually only been sentenced to three years in jail. I felt as if I were already release from prison.
We were sent straight to Insein Prison from Court No.1. When we were registered at the prison, the MIS officer told the prison officials that we would be recalled for further questioning. This, however, was against prison regulations and the prison officials said they couldn't allow that to happen. The MIS officer then made two phone calls. One I believe was to the MIS chief and the other to the prison chief. Eventually it was decided that the MIS could take us away for further interrogation. We were taken back to MI-6 in shackles, as prison rules didn't allow prisoners to leave without being shackled. As we were led back a number of bystanders watched us with interest. Perhaps they thought that we were dangerous criminals because of our handcuffs and shackles. A prison officer told us that we were the only prisoners who had been allowed to leave the prison for further questioning.
We had to stay at MI-6 for two more weeks. I was given food regularly and was allowed to sleep. Three days before we were sent back to Insein Prison the questioning stop completely. They told us that they were continuing to detain us in case their superiors wanted to ask us any questions about current events.
I was detained in a tiny room with a six-inch hole in the door where food was pushed through twice a day. The only furniture was a makeshift bed. Every time I peeped out from the hole I saw guards. They watched me round the clock. I had to lie on the bad all the time because the shackles gave me a lot of problems.
After three days without questioning I was taken to another place. They came to get me in a car. I was blindfolded and the car drove around so that I wouldn't remember the way, but I think that we may have stayed in the same compound. When we arrived at the destination, I was ordered to get out and someone led me into a room. This same person took off my hood and handcuffed me to the arms of the chair. I was frightened again as I had never been handcuffed in this way. My feet were still shackled. I couldn't hide my fear and asked the officer why I was being tied in this way. He said that one high-ranking official wanted to see me. I wondered who that could that be and whether it might be General Khin Nyunt, the director of the MIS and Secretary-1 of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). I then planned what I should say to the visiting big shot. After about three hours I heard the door open and the officer came back in. He was an army officer in plain clothes and I later learned that he was a captain. He took the handcuffs off and told me that the big shot didn't show up, so I was taken back to my small cell the same way I had come.
Later all three of us were sent back to Insein. When we arrived at the prison the handcuffs and shackles were removed. We were sent to Hall 4 in building 5, which is the solitary confinement block. That was one of the happiest days of my life. I was free from Military Intelligence. I assumed that the pain and abuse was finally over. For the first time since I was arrested, I genuinely felt as if I were a free man. Little did I know that there were events in Insein Prison that were equally, if not more horrific, that still awaited me.

Endnotes
1- Aung Gyi is a former Major-General and right-hand-man to General Ne Win; U Tin Oo is the Vice-Chairman of the NLD; Thakin Tin Mya fought for independence against the Brithsh.
2- Min Ko Naing is the Chairman of the All Burma Federation of Students' Union (ABFSU) and Aung Din is the Vice-Chairman.