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PHOTO SET 2005-A: Detention and Torture
In Karen regions, as in many rural areas of Burma, SPDC military units have the authority to detain, torture and execute civilians with impunity for whatever reason they see fit. In rural villages, just as Amnesty International once wrote of Burma's prisons, torture follows detention like night follows day. In the SPDC's battle to gain control over the lives of the civilian population, villagers and townspeople are seen as the 'enemy'. They are detained, tortured and killed either because they are seen as supporters of the armed resistance, or simply because they are unwilling or unable to comply with military orders and submit to military discipline. Arbitrary detention and torture are therefore endemic whether or not there is armed conflict in the local area. Villagers found in areas beyond the direct control of SPDC Army camps, if not shot on sight, are usually detained and abused, used as porters and taken to SPDC-controlled areas (see photos 8-13 , 4-16 and 4-17 , and 4-20 and 4-21 ). In SPDC-controlled villages, people are beaten for protesting when soldiers loot their belongings ( photos 8-3 to 8-5 and 7-81 ) or for resisting any form of military order, even just an order to attend a meeting ( photo 4-15 ). When resistance forces attack SPDC Army units or installations, the standard response is to detain and torture people in nearby villages. Photos 4-11 and 4-13 provide examples of this, while photos 4-1 to 4-7 and 4-8 to 4-10 document the SPDC's brutal retaliation when one of their trucks was destroyed by a mine – including the prolonged torture of 12 village men, three of them to their deaths, despite their complete lack of involvement in the incident. Villagers doing forced labour as porters are also sometimes tortured when a Column is attacked, as though they were responsible for the attack (see photos 4-20 and 4-21 ). Guilt or innocence is not the issue; it is a matter of asserting power over the civilian population, and stripping them of their will to resist. Officers often detain villagers in full knowledge of their innocence, simply with the intent of receiving a ransom for their release (see photos 4-12 and 4-16 and 4-17 ). 
Village heads and elders are often the first to be detained and tortured whenever their village fails to fulfil demands for forced labour, materials, or extortion money, or when any resistance activity occurs nearby (see photos 4-8 to 4-10 , 4-15 , 4-22 and 10-77 ). In areas where abuse of village heads is common, the post is rotated as often as once a month, and women are frequently elected as village heads in the hope that they will be treated less harshly than the men. Sometimes elderly women can exert 'maternal' authority over military officers, but photo 8-1 demonstrates that some officers are just as willing to torture women as men, and women face the added risk of rape during the frequent trips to the Army camp which are required of village heads. Women are also vulnerable when men flee the village to avoid being captured as porters or suspected rebels, leaving them to protect the children, the elderly and the household. When soldiers see households without men, however, they accuse the women of being 'wives of rebels' or 'mothers of rebels' – which can lead to rape, forced labour, or detention under threat of death if they fail to summon their 'rebel' relatives to come and surrender (see photos 4-12 , 10-102 , 4-14 , and 4-18 ). In addition, female villagers must always fear the possibility of rape when SPDC soldiers come to the village or when they report for forced labour (see photos 8-2 and 8-6 ). Villagers are usually detained underneath houses in their own village (Karen houses are raised above the ground on posts), at local Army camps in lockup rooms, pits in the ground, or in small animal cages. Detainees are commonly locked in a sitting position in mediaeval-style bamboo leg stocks for hours or in some cases even weeks (see photo 4-15 ). The period of detention can range anywhere from a few hours to several months, usually with no formal charges and without any possibility of legal representation or family visits. Sometimes village heads, Buddhist monks or Christian pastors can successfully plead for a detained villager by guaranteeing the detainee's innocence with their own life and freedom offered as collateral. In many cases, the victim is kept for forced labour long after the interrogation and torture is finished, and his/her family is then still forced to pay a ransom for the person's release. Exceptions are not made for people's condition or disabilities: photos 8-13 and 2-30 show women who were detained despite being pregnant or in the process of giving birth, while photo 4-19 shows a deaf villager who was beaten repeatedly while portering because he was unable to hear the soldiers' commands.
Various torture methods are used by the soldiers including beatings with fists and kicks, walking or stomping on the victim, beatings with lengths of bamboo, tree branches, rifle butts and rifle barrels, rolling hard objects along the prisoner's shins, poking or slashing with knives, and branding with hot irons (see photos 4-1 to 4-7 , 4-8 to 4-10 , 4-11 , 4-13 , and 4-20 and 4-21 ). The victim's hands and legs are usually bound, and they are sometimes tied hanging upside down or blindfolded (photos 4-13 and 4-16 and 4-17 ). Soldiers sometimes asphyxiate their victims with a plastic bag over the head, but more commonly nylon bags or sheets are used because this saves the trouble of constantly removing and replacing a plastic bag; the victim can get just enough air through the nylon fabric until water is poured over it, clogging the pores and making it airtight, causing him/her to suffocate for 20-30 seconds until enough water runs off and th ey are able to breathe through the fabric again (see photos 4-18 , 4-1 to 4-7 , and 4-20 and 4-21 ). Some villagers shown in the photos below have described having had petrol [gasoline] poured over them and being set alight (see photos 4-1 to 4-7 ). Others speak of similar torture where gunpowder was substituted for the petrol (see photos 4-8 to 4-10 ). Detention and torture create lasting physical and psychological effects, many of which are not visible in photographs. Five years after being tortured by SPDC troops, the villager in photo 4-23 displays the physical scars that he will never lose. Many of those shown below lost loved ones to torture. Many also fled their villages after their detention, not daring to face the ordeal again, and will probably be displaced for years (see photos 8-13 , 10-77 , 4-11 , and 8-3 to 8-5 ). Photo 10-84 illustrates a case where an entire village had to flee after several village elders were detained and probably executed. For the woman shown in photo 8-13 , her detention resulted in a miscarriage, displacement from her village, the death of two of her children and eventually flight to Thailand.
Photo #8-1: Daw M--- is the SPDC village chairperson of her village in Dweh Loh township, Papun district, which means she is the liaison person held responsible for ensuring that the villagers comply with all SPDC demands. Whenever they fail, she is arrested. Villagers therefore appoint women to the post in the hope that they will face less torture than men and that they can exert 'maternal' authority over younger SPDC officers. However, in January 2005 Daw M--- was detained by the DKBA. During her detention they kept her tied to a coconut tree and poked her with a gun barrel. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #8-2: Daw M--- from M--- village in Papun district recounts how SPDC soldier Kyaw Than from LIB #540 raped her 25-year-old daughter Ma K--- on August 21 st 2004. He sneaked up on her when she was bathing alone at a stream, forced her into the trees at knifepoint and raped her. After she came home crying, Daw M--- lodged a complaint with the Army camp commander, but he only offered her 300,000 Kyat to keep quiet. She told him "If I accept your money it would be like I sold my daughter for sex" , and refused the money. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #8-13: Naw S---, age 29, is from K--- village in Lu Thaw township, Papun district. In January 2004, SPDC troops from IB #60 found her living in hiding in the forest. They arrested her and took her and her three children to their camp at Pwa Ghaw. She was heavily pregnant, but the soldiers gave her and her children no food or rest along the way or when they reached the camp. Village elders of the nearby SPDC-controlled village of Pwa Ghaw managed to have her released and gave her rice, water, and clothing, but she had a miscarriage and almost died. She stayed with the villagers for 7 days, and then they took her back to the place where her husband was staying. Living back in the jungle without medicines, she fell ill and two of her three children got sick and died. She then fled to Thailand with her only remaining child, and arrived in February 2004 at the refugee camp where this photo was taken. The artwork behind her, depicting peaceful village life, was done by children in the refugee camp. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-77: Village secretary Saw P---, 32, from B--- village in Than Daung township, Toungoo district, was a leader in his SPDC-controlled village until troops from LIB #509 (Battalion Commander Nyunt Win commanding) looted his belongings, shot and killed his poultry and detained him arbitrarily in December 2003. After that he fled into the forest, where this picture shows him over a month later. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-84: This photo taken on September 13 th 2003 shows an abandoned house in Khaw Klah village, Dweh Loh township, Papun district. A month earlier on August 9 th , SPDC soldiers from LIB #434 (Battalion Commander San Aung commanding) came to the village at 10 p.m. and took away the village head and several villagers. Some were reportedly executed, and the rest were still being detained without charge in Papun town when this photo was taken. Their families were given no access to them. Most of the other villagers fled to other villages, leaving only four of the village's 17 houses still occupied. The women in those four houses were waiting to discover the fate of their detained husbands, and then they planned to flee as well. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, 4-5, 4-6, 4-7: In early August 2003, an SPDC Army truck was destroyed by a mine while travelling on the road south of Papun town close to the villages of K---, N---, and T--- which straddle the border between Bu Tho and Dweh Loh townships of Papun District. Soldiers from LIB #340 commanded by Myint Win Aung went into these three villages in the middle of the night on August 9 th and arrested eleven villagers, accusing them of being responsible for planting the landmine. All eleven villagers were taken to the Army camp and interrogated. All of them were beaten, tortured, cut with knives, and burned to varying degrees. Three of the men, all from K--- village, were killed: Saw Pa Shwe Heh was killed on September 19 th , while Saw Pa Kheh and Saw Pa Kwa Hser were killed four days later on September 23 rd . The men who survived the ordeal claimed that deputy battalion commander Maung Maung Aung and company commander Nga Moo were responsible for the killings. Saw K---, 40, from N--- village ( photos 4-1 and 4-2 ) was detained for six weeks at the Army camp, where he was interrogated, beaten, and tortured on a daily basis. The soldiers poured petrol on his chest, legs, and groin and burned him. They rolled an iron bar on his left shin until the bone fractured. His head was wrapped in a tarpaulin and the soldiers poured water over his face so that he could not breathe. These sessions usually continued until he lost consciousness. Photo 4-3 shows 35 year old Saw P---, from T---, who was beaten and kicked in the head by four soldiers wearing combat boots before having his right eye gouged out. After he was released on October 19 th , he had to pay for his own medical care; the soldiers did not provide him with any treatment. In all, his treatment cost him a total of 170,000 Kyat. Photos 4-4 and 4-5 are of Saw M---, 28 years old, from T--- village. He was kicked and beaten unconscious by five soldiers who then continued to kick and stomp on him until he shat himself. On more than one occasion, his head was wrapped in a soaked tarpaulin until he lost consciousness. On one occasion when he regained consciousness, the soldiers branded his right forearm with a hot iron, poured petrol on his chest and set fire to him. He was finally released on October 22 nd 2003. The SPDC paid nothing toward the 70,000 Kyat in medical costs that he accumulated afterwards. In photos 4-6 and 4-7 , several of the other detainees show the torture wounds all over their bodies. None of the men have been able to return to work because of their injuries. These photos were taken in September and October 2003. See also photos 4-8 through 4-10 below. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #4-8, 4-9, 4-10: After the destruction of the SPDC Army truck mentioned above, this 45 year old village head from the area was summoned to a meeting on August 13 th 2003 in Papun town by operations commander Khin Kyu, where he was accused of having prior knowledge of the KNLA soldiers' movements and of complicity in the attack. He was then kicked and beaten under the orders of operations commander Khin Kyu. The soldiers smeared gunpowder on his thighs and set it alight, burning large patches of skin off his legs. These photos were taken a week after he was released on October 19 th 2003, after being detained for over two months. He was not provided with any treatment for his wounds by the SPDC. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-11: Saw P--- from M--- village demonstrates how SPDC soldiers tied him and beat him. On October 4 th 2003, a KNLA unit ambushed soldiers from LIB #350 close to his village in Dweh Loh township of Papun District. Sergeant Tin Shwe and four of his soldiers from IB #57 went to his home and called him down from his house, whereupon the soldiers kicked and beat him unconscious. When he regained consciousness, he was taken to Meh Way Army camp, where he was tied up in the position shown in the photo and beaten until he lost consciousness again. The following day, he was forced to serve as a porter for IB #57 as they returned to Shwegyin town in Nyaunglebin District, but managed to escape a couple of days later. He told a KHRG researcher that he does not know if his family was punished for his escape, but does not yet dare to return in case the soldiers are waiting for him. This photo was taken in October 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-12: Naw K---, age 41, from H--- village in Bu Tho township, Papun District was arrested and imprisoned by SPDC Army soldiers on August 9 th 2003 because they said they suspected her son of being a KNLA soldier. The soldiers extorted a total of 40,000 Kyat from her before they would release her. This photo was taken in August 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-13: Naw N--- is a 33-year-old widow from W--- village in Bu Tho township of Papun District. On May 5 th 2003, soldiers from LIB #434 led by Myo Myint Hlaing were ambushed by KNLA soldiers not far from her village. The soldiers then entered the village and arrested Naw N---'s husband, 41 year old Pa M---, and accused him of complicity in the attack. Arbitrarily arresting local fighting-age male villagers in retaliation for ambushes is a routine SPDC Army procedure. During his interrogation at the SPDC Army camp nearby, Pa M--- was kicked, strangled, hung, stabbed in the legs with knives, and beaten to death. Their eldest daughter, 13 year old Ma M---, had to drop out of school in order to find work to help her mother raise money to support the family. This photo was taken in July 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 8-3, 8-4, 8-5: These women and their children from K--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun district fled their villages in July 2003 after being beaten by SPDC officers. When LIB #598 troops came to their village, deputy battalion commander Thein Zaw punched Naw P--- ( photo 8-3 ) in the head and slapped Naw C--- ( photo 8-4 ) in the face. He hit Naw M--- ( photo 8-5 ) on the head with a piece of wood, then kicked her in the head after she fell. These photos were taken in the forest, where they had fled with their children. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-102: Naw M---, 21, is from B--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun district, which is close to a camp of SPDC LIB #434. Whenever there is fighting in the area, LIB #434 either shells the village with mortars or comes to arrest villagers, so they often have to flee at night. Naw M--- herself is married to a KNLA soldier, and this picture shows her climbing a mountain at night in April 2003 after SPDC soldiers tried to arrest her because there had been fighting not far from the village. If they had captured her they probably would have detained her and her child under threat of death until her husband surrendered. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-14: 35-year-old Naw E--- from P--- village in Ler Doh township of Nyaunglebin District was arrested, interrogated and beaten by soldiers from SPDC IB #60 because her husband works with the KNU. She is shown here with her three children, who had to flee with her in order to avoid further repercussions. This photo was taken in February 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #8-6: Naw M---, 20, was one of four women from K--- village forced to cut the brush from beside the Toungoo to Mawchi car road. IB #48 battalion commander Maung Maung Win ordered the women to report to Tha Aye Hta Army camp on December 23 rd 2002, where they were to work for ten days. En route to the army camp at 7 p.m. that day, she saw one of the other women, Naw M---, raped by the driver, Corporal Khin Zaw. On January 6 th 2003 when they should have been released, Maung Maung Win refused to allow them to go, instead ordering them to serve as front line porters. They heard him tell his soldiers, "Take these four women to the front line. If they don't go I will kill them." This photo was taken in April 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-15: Saw H---, 50, from H--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun District was one of several villagers summoned to a meeting with SPDC officials in Shwegyin town. All ten of those who were summoned fled their villages in fear of what may await them at the meeting. Saw H--- was later found and arrested by intelligence officer Corporal H--- from LIB #440 and detained at Meh Way army camp. The soldiers locked his legs in a set of mediaeval-style stocks while they interrogated him. When he was released two hours later, the order to report to the meeting was reiterated, along with a warning: "You were told to go to Shwegyin but you didn't go, so we needed to arrest you. Nothing will happen to you when you go. We don't know why you have to go, but when you do; if they ask you about loh ah pay [forced labour], you must tell them that we pay you for it and that we feed you." This photo was taken in December 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #4-16, 4-17: On November 14 th 2002, Saw K---, 35 years old, from M--- village in Kawkareik township, Dooplaya District, was returning from working in his aunt's betelnut plantation near K--- village when he ran into SPDC Army soldiers from LIB #416, Column #2, led by acting column commander Yeh Naing. The Column detained him and forced him to serve as a porter for several days, during which he was accused of being a KNLA soldier and was bound, beaten, and tortured numerous times. Each night he was tied to a tree, unable to move as the nylon rope was wrapped around his chest, arms, legs, and throat. While tied like this he was kicked, beaten with a rifle butt and a piece of bamboo until they both broke, stabbed with knives, and burned. They cut off pieces of his earlobes and sliced his throat with a knife. He was only released after his village head paid the soldiers a 'fine' of 20,000 Kyat, along with numerous chickens, snacks, and cheroots. These photos were taken shortly after his release in November 2002. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-18: Naw L---, 31 years old, from P--- village in Bu Tho township of Papun District was almost tortured to death by SPDC Army soldiers on November 2 nd 2002. Soldiers from LIB #1 Column #2 (battalion commander Kyaw Zin Oo commanding) entered her village and detained and tortured her after suspecting her husband of being a KNLA soldier. During her interrogation, the soldiers prevented her from breathing on seven separate occasions by wrapping her head in a soaked tarpaulin. The soldiers then looted her food, clothes, and pots after ordering her to go and wait in a neighbour's house. This photo was taken in November 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-19: This deaf villager, Saw M---, from L--- village in Kawkareik township, Dooplaya District was captured on November 14 th 2002 and taken as a porter by soldiers from LIB #416 Column #2, led by intelligence officer Yeh Naing. The soldiers regularly beat him with their rifles because he was unable to hear their orders. He escaped during a clash between the SPDC Army soldiers and the KNLA. This photo was taken in November 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #4-20, 4-21: As he was fishing on the banks of the N--- on September 17 th 2002, Saw H---, 42, from T--- village in Bilin township, Thaton District was captured by SPDC Army LIB #2, Column #1, led by battalion commander Aung Zaw Win, and forced to porter supplies along with the Column. Shortly afterwards the column was ambushed by KNLA soldiers and he was blamed for the attack. The soldiers beat him with a rifle until it broke in two. They wrapped his head in a soaked cloth so that he couldn't breathe and kicked him about the head. They then tied him to a house post and Captain Lin Htat sliced open his calf and his thigh with a knife. He was later released, given injections, had his wounds bandaged, and was offered 5,000 Kyat by the soldiers – which he refused. These photos were taken in November 2002. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-81: On September 17 th 2002, SPDC troops from LIB #3 Column #2 (battalion commander That Htun Aung commanding) entered K--- village in Dweh Loh township of Papun District and proceeded to loot the villagers' belongings. Forty-year-old Naw K--- objected when the soldiers began taking her food and clothing. One of the Non-Commissioned Officers slapped her in the face and hit her with the butt of his rifle. She did not dare to complain again. This photo was taken in October 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-22: This 55-year-old villager from N--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun District told KHRG how when he was village head he was tortured almost to death and buried up to his neck by SPDC Army soldiers. This photo was taken in September 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #2-30: On August 12 th 2002 a combined column of soldiers from SPDC IB #60, IB #264, and DKBA #777 Brigade shelled and later burned Maw Pu village in Mone township of Nyaunglebin District. Most of the villagers fled as soon as the shelling began, leaving behind all of their belongings. This woman had very recently given birth and was unable to flee along with the rest of the villagers, so she was detained by the soldiers when they entered the village. This photo was taken in late August 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-23: This 43-year-old villager, Saw B---, from Tantabin township in Toungoo District was tortured together with his uncle in May 1999 by a unit of the SPDC's Dam Byan Byaut Kya ('Guerrilla Retaliation') execution squads (for more information on the Dam Byan Byaut Kya in Toungoo District, see KHRG's October 2004 report Enduring Hunger and Repression). The soldiers, led by Bo Shan Bpu (who also calls himself Bo Shwit – 'shwit' being the sound of cutting someone's throat) kicked the two men, beat them with bamboo, and stole 50,000 Kyat and three cows before pouring petrol on Saw B---'s back and setting fire to him. Though this photo was taken four years later in April 2003, he will bear the scars of his torture for life. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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