Find story in Norwegian at Norwegian Burma Committee’s website.
Kyaw Zaw Lwin is a known political activist, and on 3 September 2009 he flew into Rangoon on a flight from Bangkok and was arrested by military authorities shortly after landing, informed Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Kyaw Zaw Lin, aka Nyi Nyi Aung, has been badly tortured under interrogation following his arrest, and has since been denied medical treatment.
The torture and ill-treatment that Nyi Nyi Aung suffered in detention included beating and kicking. He was deprived of food for seven days and moved between different interrogation centres. He was not allowed to sleep at night and was kept awake during interrogation by the authorities.
There are grave concerns about his health.
Linked to terrorism
He is currently on trial for charges related to fraud and of carrying excessive amounts of the Burmese currency into the country.
On 24 September 2009 the U.S. Embassy submitted an official letter of complaint to the military government of Burma, protesting at the alleged mistreatment and torture of imprisoned American citizen, Nyi Nyi Aung.
The same day the state-run newspaperThe New Light of Myanmar reported that Nyi Nyi Aung had been arrested on 3 September and accused him of instigating unrest and sabotage and alleged he was planning to launch terrorist attacks.
This allegation is completely unfounded. It is well-known that Nyi Nyi Aung had no links with terrorist groups, or plans to commit terror attacks in Burma.
No family visits
Nyi Nyi Aung has also been denied family visits. On 24 September 2009, Nyi Nyi Aung’s aunt Su Su Kyi told Democratic Voice of Burma that she had visited Rangoon’s Insein prison where he is being held, on Monday 21 September, but was denied access. “Officials at the prison told me that [Nyi Nyi Aung] was only a concern for the US embassy as he was an American citizen,” she said.
On 22 September 2009 the United States embassy in Burma said that it was allowed a visit to Kyaw Zaw Lwin aka Nyi Nyi Aung. A spokesman for the embassy told news agency AFP that Kyaw Zaw Lwin aka Nyi Nyi Aung was detained in Rangoon on September 3 and the consular visit was granted on Sunday 20 September.
They could not give details as to why he was held, but that they had passed on information of his circumstances to his family.
For further information, please press here or contact:
Tate Naing, AAPP Secretary, +66(0)812878751
Bo Kyi, AAPP Joint-Secretary, +66(0)81-3248935
Political prisoners in Burma
There are a total of 2,173 political prisoners in Burma. This is an overall increase of 5 in comparison to last month’s figure of 2,168.
251 of them are monks, 12 members of Parliament, 284 students, find more details here.
Since the protests in August 2007 leading to September’s Saffron Revolution, a total of 1,176 activists have been arrested and are still in detention.
