High-Profile Political Prisoners

September 23, 2009

By Phil Thornton

In March 1990 he was again arrested for helping his mother in her campaign to be elected as an independent candidate. He was given four years hard labour. When he was released in 1993, he started making movies, both as director and producer, but was banned from performing on stage or in film. He was arrested for delivering water and food to monks protesting in 2007 and for giving supporting interviews to international radio stations. He was released a week later, but continued to anger the regime.
In an interview with Radio Free Asia on prison conditions and what he saw, he said, ‘The lives of the youths have been destroyed. They are in prison, and some have died. In the prison, there were monks with gunshot wounds on their backs. Also I saw old monks around the age of 72 who got kicked in the ribs.’

After the devastation of Cyclone Nargis, Zarganar took action and organised aid deliveries to victims in 42 villages. He received threats from the military to stop doing so before being arrested on June 4, 2008. He was given a total of 59 years in jail, later reduced to 35 years. He is serving his sentence in a three-foot-square cell in the remote Myitkyina Prison, in Kachin state, northern Burma.

Dateline Burma

1988: The 8-8-88 mass uprising starts with students protesting in Rangoon and spreads to the entire country. Millions of people protest against the government. Thousands are killed in the military crackdown on students, monks and civilians. Aung San Suu Kyi emerges from the chaos as a national icon.

1989: The regime imposes martial law and changes the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is held under house arrest for ‘endangering the state’, and NLD leaders are arrested.

1990: To appease international concerns, the regime calls national elections. While still under house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy wins the general elections with a massive 82 per cent of the seats. However, the military regime refuses to recognise the election results.

1991: Aung San Suu Kyi awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1994: The Democratic Karen Buddhist Organization (DKBO) – a breakaway faction of the KNU – attacks refugee populations in Thailand. The DKBA are an armed militia sponsored by the Burmese regime .The UN passes a resolution that condemns the abuses against civilians.

1995: In January, the regime launches a major military offensive against the Karen National Union (KNU), taking their Manerplaw headquarters. The UNHCR passes a resolution condemning the regime for using forced portering, forced labour and for conducting other reprisals against the Karen civilian populations.

1996: As many as 10,000 of Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters demonstrate in Rangoon, the largest protests since 1990. On June 7, the regime announces that political opposition rallies are illegal.

2003: While touring northern Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters are attacked by regime-sponsored. As many as 70 people are killed in the Depayin massacre with hundreds injured and scores arrested, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

2006: The regime launches a military offensive in Eastern Burma, burning or forcibly relocating 76,000 Karen villagers.

2007: The Saffron Revolution, with hundreds of thousands of monks, students, activists and workers taking to the streets to protest at the worsening economic and human rights situation in Burma. The regime sends thousands of soldiers, paramilitary personnel, police and local authorities to beat protesters off the streets.

2008: The regime orders citizens to vote in the rigged national referendum despite the devastation caused when Cyclone Nargis kills more than 100,000 people and displaces millions.

2009: In preparation for elections in 2010, the Burmese regime’s security forces jail hundreds of people; including poets, journalists, writers, comedians and political opponents. Aung San Suu Kyi is taken from house arrest and detained in Insein Jail. Over 1300 Burmese army soldiers and DKBA militiamen attack Karen villages in eastern Burma, forcing 3447 people across the River Moei into neighbouring Thailand.