Burma - Politics and Political Prisoners

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A 2004 Amnesty International report names more than 200 individuals imprisoned between 1989 and 2004, who are among more than 1,300 political prisoners who, according to the organization, have been imprisoned after unfair trials. The prisoners, including National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo, have "been wrongfully denied their liberty for peaceful acts that would not be considered crimes under international law," Amnesty International claims.

As the Burmese economy collapsed in 1987, sporadic protests against the military regime became a nationwide movement for reform culminating in the largest protests in Burma’s history on August 8th, 1988, known as the 8888 Uprising, with Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of General Aung San, emerging as a prominent leader. Students, professionals, and others launched a nationwide uprising aimed at bringing an end to authoritarian rule. Aung San Suu Kyi gave numerous speeches calling for freedom and democracy; however, the military regime responded to the uprising with brute force, shooting and otherwise killing up to 10,000 demonstrators, students, women, children, and others in a matter of months. Unfortunately, though multiparty elections were held in 1990, the military regime ignored how Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, won with an overwhelming majority. The regime continued to rule with an iron fist and imprisoned many of the would-be elected political leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate.

More recently, after Burma's ruling junta in August 2007 unexpectedly increased fuel prices by 500%, tens of thousands of Burmese marched in protest, led by prodemocracy activists and Buddhist monks in what is known as the Saffron Revolution. In late September 2007, the government brutally suppressed the protests, killing at least 13 people and arresting thousands for participating in the demonstrations. Since then, the regime has continued to raid homes and monasteries and arrest persons suspected of participating in the pro-democracy protests. 2,800 political prisoners remain.

• More than 2,000 prisoners
• Vast network of 43 prisons and 92 labor camps
• The notorious Insein Prison was built for 4,000 but houses over 10,000 prisoners today

• Cell size: 8 x 12
• Solitary confinement and isolatio - no contact to family
• Spoiled food, unclean water, and poor sanitation
• Disease: malaria, HIV/AIDS, TB & no medical treatment
• International Committee of the Red Cross is denied access to these prisons

• Political prisoners hired out by the military as slave labor
• Forced labor is a primary labor resource of government projects