Saving Sean Turnell
Kyaw San Han played a crucial role in helping save Sean Turnell, an Australian economic advisor who was arrested in Myanmar following the military coup. As a police captain, Kyaw San Han was assigned as the first interpreter for Turnell during his detention and interrogation by the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) in Yangon. Realizing that Turnell was in grave danger, with military leaders aiming to extract sensitive information from him to charge Aung San Suu Kyi and the civilian government, Kyaw San Han discreetly warned Turnell to be careful with his answers during interrogations, as he described in a recent conversation with us. He recounted how he secretly advised Turnell, in English, to avoid giving incriminating information, knowing that the regime planned to keep him in dire conditions where he could either die from poor treatment or commit suicide. Despite the extreme risks to his own safety, Kyaw San Han took steps to protect Turnell, even covertly taking a picture of him in detention as evidence. This act of defiance put Kyaw San Han at risk of being discovered and tortured, but his actions contributed to Turnell’s eventual survival and release. His support for Turnell, both in protecting him during interrogation and ensuring he was not mistreated, was critical in keeping Turnell safe until international pressure eventually led to his release.
“They are not gentlemen; they are bad guys! They have no mercy to civilians.”
Host: Your superior said that you would be arrested and that you would be killed in prison. Now, that's a very serious threat. Do you believe that the police themselves would put you or would put a watermelon in prison and would murder you in that prison?
“Yes, it is. There were already many cases like me who were watermelons. They were arrested. Some, they were killed in the prison, and their families, sometimes they couldn't even get the dead bodies. Because the police organization is afraid that if the dead body was given to the family, they will take pictures of that dead body, and that picture would go viral on the social media. It will be a very bad image for the Myanmar Police Force, which is controlled by the military.
The head of division or the Chief of Police, whenever they give serious threats, they made it happen, because they are so cruel. Even now, you might see some news that even civilians who stand up for democracy, they got arrested and got killed in the prison with any excuse. The dead bodies are given later, if the condition [of the bodies] is good, but if the body condition is bad, they won't give them. For police officers and military personnel, we were trained to serve for the junta. So, they feel furious when we oppose the junta. So, we get more punishment, more tortured to death than civilians. That is why it was my greater fear that if I got arrested, I would also get tortured to death, including my family.
That is why after I saved Professor Sean Turnell’s life in the CID [Criminal Investigation Department] interrogation room, I told my family that we have to escape from the police department in Naypyidaw. And that we have to flee Myanmar, because once my head of police or my Chief of Police knew about me, we were done in Myanmar. Our news would disappear quietly in the prison. That is why I had to plan everything confidentially. If my head of police knew that I tried to take my family out of the police apartment or out of Myanmar, they would surely arrest me and torture me to death as the enemy. Now, I became their enemy, and my family also as the obvious target to arrest. Even now in Myanmar, they arrest family as hostages to get their wanted military personnel or police officers back to Myanmar to give punishment.
Therefore, now, I am requesting the Australian Government to save my family to Australia, because currently, my family is in Thailand. As you know, many now serving as Myanmar police officers graduated from RPCA [Thai Royal Police Cadet Academy], and another four are currently attending RPCA. So, there is a strong cooperation between Myanmar Police Force and the Royal Thai Police. Another important thing is that if my family gets killed in Thailand, for example, there will be someone sent by the junta to take my family or kill my family in Thailand, and then they return to Myanmar. No one arrests that criminal. At the moment, law enforcement in Myanmar is very bad, especially killing PDF or killing democracy lovers, it is very easy and no police arrest these criminals.
Even now, my family is under threat by the pro-military Telegram channels. You might know Han Nyein Oo’s, Kyaw Zwar’s Telegram channels. They knew about me. They announced, they asked the Myanmar Police Force to arrest my family even they are abroad. If they get my family, they get me. So yeah, these are human rights violations. They are not gentlemen; they are bad guys. That is why citizens do the end game, to finish, to end the dictatorship in Myanmar, because they are not professional. They have no mercy to civilians.”