Sithu Zeya was arrested after taking pictures of the aftermath of explosions in Yangon
BANGKOK (AlertNet) - Sithu Zeya was arrested in April 2010 shortly after taking pictures of the aftermath of explosions in Yangon during the traditional water festival celebrating the New Year. In December 2010, he was sentenced to 8 years under the Immigration Act and Unlawful Association Act, and then in September 2011, he was sentenced to an additional 10 years under the Electronics Act. In total, he was sentenced to 18 years.
He served his sentence in both Insein and Hinthada (in Irrawaddy State, some 100-odd km away from Yangon) prisons. He was studying biology at university before his arrest. His father, Maung Maung Zeya, who was also a journalist for Democratic Voice of Burma, was arrested too and sentenced to 13 years. The father was also released on Jan 13. Sithu Zeya turned 22 on Jan 16.
How do you feel now that you are free?
“I can’t say I’m completely happy to be home. I am glad to see my family again but I can’t be truly happy because I feel I am not completely free.”
“The authorities made me sign a form. I asked them whether it was admission of guilt but they said it is not, it is an acknowledgement that if I break the law again I will have to serve the remainder of my sentence. So I feel like they’ve let me out with a leash still attached to my neck.”
When did you know you were going to be released?
“We heard about the national news announcing amnesty but we didn’t know it was going to be focusing on political prisoners. I only found out at 3.30 in the morning that my name was on the list. The prison officials woke me up to tell me. I came out of the prison at around 9 in the morning.”
What are your future plans?
“I will continue to do (journalism). I won’t change my life.”
How did you spend time in prison?
“In the prison, I read, meditate, play football and cane ball (Burmese traditional sport). The main thing is reading. There is not much else to do. There were restrictions when I was in Insein jail about what we can read. They let us read political news but not stuff that badmouths the country or about human rights. And sometimes it takes quite a while for the papers to reach us because it has to go through the officials. We would get a journal about a week after it was published.”
“There was a bit more freedom in rural prisons. We could read more books and journals but if we write letters home and that includes politics, they will confiscate it.”
I was in Insein first but they sent me to Hinthada in November 2011.
What were the conditions like in the prisons?
“In Insein if you can bribe prison officials, then you get good treatment. For those who have not paid them any money, even if you are in a critical condition, they won’t send you to the hospital. There was one person – an old gentleman – in my cell who died because of this. We kept asking for medical help when he was having problems breathing but they only came two hours after we first alerted the authorities. Even then it was a prison official, not the doctor. The gentlemen died after suffering breathing difficulties.”
“So those who were not too ill but could pay them could go to hospital while those who need genuine medical help sometimes couldn’t get it. In the rural prison, it was much better, more humane, but they don’t have any medicine. In the women’s area, they don’t have medication for women who are giving birth and this sometimes leads to unnecessary tragedies.”
“In Insein, on the day I was last there, there were 128 people in the cell. There should only be 40 people in the room. Those who sleep in the middle could only sleep on one side and cannot move. It was very crowded. It was easier in the rural prison, there were less people.”
Were you tortured?
“They beat me up in Insein prison, I think as a way of suppressing me. One of the officials didn’t like what I said so he punched me and I told him in front of other prisoners that he shouldn’t take advantage of his official status and do this kind of thing. I think he was embarrassed so the next day he put me alone in a room and then starting punching and beating me. They hit me 28 times and beat me with a weapon 16 times. They also hit my face with the palm 10 times it broke my glass. They hit me until they were satisfied. They only left the room after I couldn’t get up. A higher official came to see me afterwards and told me they just wanted to teach me a lesson, there wasn’t any particular reason.”
“When there is nobody in the room, they would torture and do whatever they want with you. If you’re unlucky, you could lose your life. But they don’t do the same to criminals who bribe them.”
“They also tortured me when they first arrested me. They only gave me water on the fifth day. They only give me water because I needed to take medication. Until then I had to tell them I want to go to the toilet and had to drink the water from the loo. They only gave me food only after 10 days and I could only start sleeping after about 15 days of my arrest.”
"The prison officials also ignored my request to be in the same prison as my father in Hsipaw, in Shan State."
What changes have you seen in the country since you were released?
“There is change in the administration, the government machine but the change has not translated into officials at the grassroots level. We have been released because foreign countries have demanded it, it’s not because they think it was wrong to have political prisoners. Otherwise, they could’ve released us a long time ago.”
“I see that there are now ceasefire agreements. But I read it in a journal somewhere that the ceasefire is based on business deals and this kind of ‘understanding’. So I’m worried about it, that the deals were not made with the right intent.”
“They (the government) can also always turn back the changes. That’s the main problem. They keep saying the higher authorities have changed but the officials on the ground have not changed so the people are still suffering. The reforms have yet to made positive impacts on the general public so I can’t say they are successful just yet.”
What do you think of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s involvement in the by-election?
“In my entire life, I have never witnessed an election. I was in prison when the elections were held. So I can’t really say how it would be, and where I am, Kyaukmyaung Township, is not in the by-elections so I can’t vote this time either.”
“With regards to Aunty Suu entering the by-elections, looking at it as a member of the public, I do support it, but if I’m being honest, I also worry whether her work in other areas, like national reconciliation and peace with the ethnic groups, will weaken if she become a law maker. I don’t want that to happen.”
“The public also still doesn’t understand clearly what democracy really means. They know how to spell it but they don’t completely understand it. We need to educate the people what democracy really means, what it entails, what they will get, what their responsibilities are.”
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