The Human Cost
RFA Burmese aired a story last week that a Burmese reader requested us to translate so as to inform the foreign audience as to these events. Following is a rough translation of several parts the video. This gives the reader a better picture of the grim reality of “what is happening now in Myanmar.”
Q: You and your mother were arrested together. Did they let you stay with your mother? Can you also tell us what happened in the interrogation camp?
We were arrested on the 14th. That morning, we had gone to the 18th Street market to support Burmese New Year Snack Protest (မုန့်လုံးရေပေါ် သပိတ်). Then we returned home, we took a break, I posted some pictures on the internet. Then we came out again to support another protest (ဆေးသပိတ်).
There was nothing saved on my phone when we came out again, only 1 or 2 pictures of some protests in the past. I deleted everything, except for the pictures of this morning’s protest. As the two of us were walking, between Bargaya Khaut and Ngar Htut Kyi Pagoda, a military truck pulled up next to us. We were simply walking by the road, not doing any protest actions at all at that time.
They took our phones right away. We had no time to get rid of those few photos we had just taken. They took us to another police station and took our pictures. After that the police took us to Sanchaung police station.
Unfortunately, my mother had all of her own storage still on her phone, going back to the protests since the 4th, including many pictures showing her holding a microphone and shouting. Nothing had been deleted.
My mom had regularly been going to the Sanchaung Baho Street protests. She would be at the top end of the Maubin Street, holding a microphone and shouting at the police – “One thousand kyats for 3 sarongs...” (this refers to women’s sarongs hanging on the lines above the road to deter police advances).
Now they have those videos! A senior ranking police said, ‘We saw you at those Sanchaung protests. Who is supporting you? Where do you get money? You talked about inheritance but you can't afford that much. There must be a supporter.’
About 6 police surrounded her and interrogated in the room next to my room.
In this room where I was held, there was only one person, a clerk. They didn't ask me anything. Then a man with 2 bars on his uniform came in and said, ‘No need to ask her. She will be doing everything her mother did. Write it all down. Then we will take them both to the Interrogation camp.’
So they asked my age. I said I was an underage, only 15 years old. But the actual date of birth is March 2004. I turned 17 three months ago. We did not know that they called my uncle, who was at home. They told him to come and pick me up since I was underage. Yet without knowing he brought my birth certificate which said 2004.
‘Are you lying? Both you and your mother are lying. You are already 17. Now that you are 17 we can take you to the camp and interrogated. We can also say you are 18 and thrown you into the prison, know that.’
That night, the 14th, we spent in the police station jail cell. It was late and at about 10 the next morning, we were taken out and put into not to a prisoner transport car, as you would expect, but an ordinary sedan car.
While we were in the police station, I was now being questioned by the 2-bar officer. Then another uniformed man came in and tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Do you know this man can help you?’
First I didn't say anything, just tried to ignore him. He put his hand again on my shoulder again, and this time I hit his hand. I said, ‘Don’t ever touch me again! I demand that the policewoman come in here immediately.’
He pulled out his gun from under his shirt and banged it down on the desk and said, ‘I can shoot and kill you right now! I will dispose of your body, and no one would ever know!’
I was so angry at that time I screamed back, ‘Fine! Shoot! Shoot now!’
I screamed five times. Then the 2-bar officer told him to leave the room immediately, that I was still underage and they would be in trouble if they harmed me. I think that made him so upset that this is the reason I ended up getting sent to an interrogation camp.
Now to tell you about this. There were four dormitories in this interrogation camp. The hall I was put in was so big. The drainage and grass areas were separated from each other. There were a lot of openings in the building, like you could see outside through the windows. At the far end, there was male dormitory. In the middle was the female dormitory. A soldier waited in front of each dormitory, and changed duty every hour.
When the soldiers would come to investigate, they would enter the female dorm. There was a desk and two chairs. They made you sit in the chair facing them, then confess what you have done. They wrote it down on A4 papers and asked in details. ‘What have you been doing since February 4?’ (All protests started on the 4th Feb). And then you had to answer
Q: Did you have any association with CRPH or any association with CDM workers?
So luckily, on my mom’s phone, there were only the pictures of the protests, just her photos of speaking into the microphone. Nothing related to CRPH or CDM. Also the man who interrogated her was also not one of those very bad men.
The women who had already arrived at the interrogation camp also gave advice to us when we arrived. They said: ‘When they question you, don’t say you don’t know, don’t say no, call them masters, answer respectfully. If not, they will blindfold you, handcuff and take you to that other building.’
You see, after the female dormitory, is a dormitory where the soldiers and interrogators live. After that is ‘the other building.’ I didn’t know exactly where this was however, as I was blindfolded around that time.
I think it was just an empty big hall, but it was where the boys were taken and beaten. I know this because when the boys were taken there, they had to cross in front of the girls' dormitory. There were 3-4 windows and we could see it all happen.
Some boys, when they came back, they couldn’t even support their legs! They were beaten so brutally. The faces were swollen and disfigured. Since their dorm was separated from ours, it was not known who these boys were. I only saw them when they passed by.
We arrived here on the 15th. On the 18th around 3 pm, a 19-year-old woman, the one whose photo I posted below, arrived.
Q: Can you tell her name?
They did not call us by names. They would call like, ‘Someone from Yankin,’ and then pointing their fingers at the person.
I also forgot to ask their names, there was not much time.
It was about 4 o'clock when the 19-year old arrived. After about five minutes, a man came and collected everyone’s fathers’ names. We were not allowed to talk to newcomers. People who arrived previously are placed on the other end of the hall. Whenever we had our chance we would advise them, saying something like ‘Don't be stubborn, don’t say you don't know, call them masters etc.’
The 19-year-old was questioned inside this hall.
They asked her if she had a boyfriend, and so many personal questions. When she replied that she did, they asked if he was over there, the male dorm. Then they asked her race, but she thought it was her boyfriend's race, and she answered that he was a Muslim. When they found out that her boyfriend was a Muslim, they became very angry, and called 2 more people form outside, then they blindfolded and handcuffed her and took her way. It was a long time before she came back, around 6:30 – 7:00 pm.
We were so worried, and asked her if she was being beaten. She said they did not beat her, but brought her boyfriend in and beat him savagely. In fact, he was not even her real boyfriend. Because they had been caught with some things at their home, they thought it would be safer if they said that he was just her boyfriend, just visiting her there.
We gave her some food and let her rest. Then two sisters from Sanchaung arrived that night. Apparently they were hauled off from a house in South Okkalapa. One of them was underage, about 17, like me. Her sister was a little older. Three men interrogated her and her sister.
During the interrogation, the hall was quiet. I could hear some words every now and then. When she came back, she was already completely ravaged and broken. The 19-year-old was kicked in the head, when her chin hit the hard road, they pushed down hard on her back with foot.
She was beaten up brutally. They also pulled her hair and dragged her on the tarmac road. After that, she was sent to the camp. When she arrived at the camp, they body-shamed her and abused her with vulgar, unspeakable words. Then each policeman took turns and sexually assaulted her.
They asked if she had a boyfriend, and found English texts on her phone. When they found out her boyfriend was from Nigeria, they called him Kapali, the Burmese equivalent of the n-word.
‘So you like a Kapalis?’ they asked.
They forced her legs open and kicked her in the groin violently. They also hit her brutally with an iron pipe. She was blindfolded all the time. They jumped on her shoulders and pulled her hair. All kinds of torture. She was then sent to the 9-mile interrogation camp.
At 9 Mile interrogation she asked to identify 5-10 people. She was asked to reveal home addresses and phone numbers of each person.
The 19-year-old woman arrived at Shwe Pyithar interrogation around 3 pm. She arrived at around 4 pm, and by that time was already totally destroyed. She could not walk well. She could not even swallow any food. Her teeth and gums were so much in pain, and there was a huge area on her lip that was missing. But she still could speak, barely.
We carefully wiped her with a soaked towel, gave her any medicine that we happened to have. We asked the front guard and asked for a box of rice. We fed her as much as she could take. When I ask her how they treated her before coming here, she told us the same as the other one told us.
Q: Is there any chance that she could stay alive? How far they have tortured her?
She was still able to walk, not falling down yet. Half of her lip was now missing, her eyes were severely blood-shot from being punched badly, but she could still see, barely. Also there were injuries on her head, her buttocks were horribly bruised, full of black and brown bruises. There was bleeding from her groin. There was also a lot of stripe marks on her chest .
I believe that her chance to remain alive is not so good, and she was not allowed to eat during the interrogation, for days and nights. And the only medicine they gave was just an antiseptic.
All day all night interrogation without food, and so weak with all those injuries, it would be very difficult to survive.