Rapporteur urged to act on US citizen trial

Wednesday, 23 December 2009 16:23 Mungpi

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Two international counsels for detained Burmese-born American, Nyi Nyi Aung, have urged the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, to take action for the ill-treatment their client is enduring in Burma’s notorious Insein prison.

Jared Genser, President of Washington-based legal firm ‘Freedom Now’, and Beth Swanke, on Tuesday submitted an urgent appeal to the Special Rapporteur, asking him to take appropriate action for the torture and ill-treatment endured by their client.

Genser and Swanke, who were both hired as international counsels by Nyi Nyi Aung’s fiancé, in their petition said the American Burmese, also known as Kyaw Zaw Lwin, has been locked up since December 7 in a separate cell, also known as the ‘Military dog-cell’, in Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison.

The petition filed on Tuesday said Nyi Nyi Aung had been transferred to a separate cell inside the Insein prison. The cell, also termed as the ‘Military dog-cell’, is a small room of 8 ft x 10 ft cell, and is a place where prison authorities keep dogs.

The lawyers claimed that with the constant barking of the dogs, their client, at the least, would be subject to extreme sleep deprivation. Nyi Nyi Aung, since his arrest on September 3, had been moved to various interrogation centers and was tortured including food and sleep deprivation for seven days, beatings and denial of medical treatment.

“Freedom Now believes that this treatment rises to the level of torture or, at a minimum, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, given its duration and interference with his ability to sleep, and requests your urgent assistance,” the two counsels said in their petition.

The Burmese-born American’s aunt, Khin Khin Swe, in Rangoon told Mizzima that her nephew was moved to a separate cell on the third day of the hunger-strike, which he started on December 4 demanding proper treatment of political prisoners.

While he has called off the hunger-strike, his lawyers in Rangoon, who met him on Friday at the court during a hearing of a prosecution witness, said he looked pale and weak.

“We could not talk to him privately, and met him only in the court room,” Nyan Win, one of the defence counsels representing Nyi Nyi Aung in the court in Rangoon, told Mizzima.

The US Embassy in Rangoon earlier told Mizzima that Nyi Nyi Aung had told them that he was mistreated during the initial stages of his detention. Based on his accounts, the embassy submitted an official diplomatic note to the government of Burma protesting the alleged mistreatment of an imprisoned American citizen.

An official at the US embassy told Mizzima that while a consul officer was allowed attend the December 28 court hearing, the Burmese government have not yet responded to their request to get access to Nyi Nyi Aung outside of the trial settings since December 3, 2009.

The Burmese American has been charged for committing fraud, forgery and illegal possession of foreign currency. But Beth Swanke said the charges are ‘sham’ and are designed to frame him.

“We believe the real reason behind the arrest and detention is his activities as a pro-democracy activist,” said Swanke, adding that Nyi Nyi Aung has been a well-known non-violent pro-democracy activist and would not have committed the alleged crimes.

Genser and Swanke in their petition to the UN Rapporteur said, “Freedom Now believes the purpose of the initial torture was to force Mr. Aung to confess to false crimes in order to imprison him and prevent his non-violent democracy activities.”

And the reason for the current solitary confinement in a dog-cell could be a punishment to the pro-democracy activist for carrying out a hunger-strike to protest the conditions of political prisoners, the two lawyers said.

Nyi Nyi Aung was a student activist, who participated in the 1988 student-led pro-democracy uprising, which was crushed by the military junta. He fled to Thailand along with fellow activists, in the wake of the regime’s crackdown on protesters.

He was later resettled in the United States and was naturalized as a citizen. According to his international lawyers, he holds a valid US passport and was flying to Rangoon from Bangkok with the intention of visiting his mother, who is also currently serving a jail term for her involvement in the September 2007 monk-led protests.

The continued detention and trial of the Burmese American has raised concern among US congressmen, with 50 US lawmakers warning the Burmese military Supremo Snr Gen Than Shwe that the trial could have consequences on the immature US-Burmese relationship.

US in September announced a new policy on Burma that will involve direct engagement with the Burmese military junta while maintaining existing sanctions, that can be tighten or ease-off depending on political improvements in the Southeast Asian Nation.