Behind Burmese bars

By Angelique Berhault

No toilets, only chamber pots they can wash in the morning

It is three o’clock in the morning, everybody is sleeping in the house. Each member of the family dreams, the night is peaceful and gentle. Suddenly, tension is felt in the air as somebody knocks heavily on the door. The entire family awakens. Their hearts beating faster in their throat, as their faces stare bewildered at each other. The soldiers! They are screaming, they are banging at the door. They are trying to come in. There is little reaction in the neighbourhood, few lights are turned on. Many others get up and are observing what is happening from their window quietly, in the dark as not to be seen, scared to death.

The soldiers are in the house now, they shout, they ask one name. Everybody has to show his ID card. The son, who is accused of plotting against the military junta, is taken away.

The father must sign the legal papers, in which he agrees the detention of his son who will be put in jail, somewhere in the country, far away from his hometown.

Many Burmese know this same old story... It is one of the many procedures the soldiers use to terrorize the entire population of the country. Moreover, once somebody is detained, there is very little chance to obtain freedom again.

According to a Burmese testimony, less than 10% of detainees return alive from jail. 90% die behind the bars, due to the conditions faced during detention. Prisoners must work up to 14 hours a day. They have to break stones, build roads and help secure the army’s infrastructures.

It is a hard labour which demands lots of efforts and energy. But they receive only half of the nutrition a human needs. Under nourishment coupled with exhaustion, and often sickness along with old age, has caused the unofficial death of thousands of Burmese in jail since the establishment of the dictatorship in 1962.

Many witnesses report one of their loved ones missing, detained for five, ten, fifteen years or more and who never returned. For some detainees, the conditions of detention are so unbearable because of the psychological obstacles they have to face and in these circumstances they are even harder to overcome. Indeed, torture, humiliation and rape are also part of the their daily life.

Escape?

As a result, some try to escape. The ones who are caught in action are immediately shot dead. The ones who managed to escape run into forests and jungles to find shelter (as jails are never located in cities) but they are burdened by their hands and feet cuffed (even when they are working, eating or sleeping). If they are lucky, they will meet a kind person who will accept to free them from their cuffs. But some are not as lucky, bumping into pro-junta people who bring them back to a police station. Some others came across scaredy-cat persons. Indeed, if a person helps a captive, it’s considered a crime, punished by incarceration or death (depending more or less on the mood of the soldiers).

Guards are not allowed to talk with detainees. If one of them breaks the rule, he too would have to go behind bars. Convicts are never confined to a prison close to their homes. But some families save money and then go to visit their detained family member. They bring food and consumer goods but some prison wardens don’t hesitate to eat a part of the dish they like, or take the goods they want to keep.

Food in custody is disgusting. Meals are made of rice scattered with gravel, and curry boiled in a large stew pot, from which a foul-smell disperses. The lack of hygiene is another factor the detainees have to deal with on a daily basis. There are rats in cells gnawing the thin mattress. There are no toilets in cells, only a chamber pot they can wash in the morning.

What about political prisoners?

If people of the Teak’s Land are scared stiff by jail, it’s due to the lack of laws, rights, trials, lawyers and indefinite detention policies. Nobody wants to be imprisoned. But there are some stories of poor men who sacrificed themselves for their family. In Burma, corruption is part of everyday life. There are some rich people who are condemned to jail but they never spent a day in jail. They simply give enough money and so bride the system. In turn, the militias use the money to buy food everyday. In exchange for this monthly salary, the poor father is put in jail with the identity of the rich man.

The political prisoners are in similar conditions of detention, sometimes even worse than any prisoner.

There are over 2000 political prisoners in Burma, including students and Buddhist monks. And according to an official newspaper, almost 3000 people have been detained since the government began its crackdown during the protests of September 2007 (following the price increase of fuel, rice and meat).

The statement concluded that only 500 were still in custody, but it is believed the number is far greater. Indeed, there are more than 100 000 people in the streets when the junta launched a violent crackdown. While the United Nations estimates at least 31 people were killed, many testimonies of Burmese refugees speak about the figures being thousands.

A 678.500 km² jail

If conditions of detention in jail are appalling, Burma can be symbolized as a 678 500 km² prison, imprisoning each inhabitant, as their freedom is greatly restricted. Burmese are constantly under surveillance. But the most terrifying is the fact that government officials wear civil suits. So people can’t know when a soldier is around them or not.

There is no freedom of speech, of association, of press, of business, of political ideas, as the following story proves.

There was an old woman in Rangoon, she was 80, but full of energy, helped by hours of daily meditation. She was very angry at the government. She said: “ Those people are uneducated, they don’t use their brain, they are very bad, they know only killing!“ She couldn’t stop telling stories about how the militias destroyed her country.

But suddenly, her voice became soft and calm. With delicacy, she took from her wallet, as a secret well-kept, a picture of Aung San Suu Kyi*. She smiled and while putting her forefinger in front of her lips, she said: “Everybody prays for her, we all love her. I pray for her every day. Few months ago, she was sick, she got malaria, but everybody prayed and she was healed.”

This story signifies that although freedom is restricted, hope is not imprisoned and silent prayers will set Burma free one day.