PHOTO DESCRIPTION LIST: SET 94-C
MURDERS (THATON DISTRICT), DETENTION (PAPUN DISTRICT)

An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
October 1, 1994

This list provides descriptions of the attached, which are provided to accompany the following existing Karen Human Rights Group reports: "Recent Incidents in Thaton District" (30/9/94) and "Incoming Field Reports" (23/9/94).  In this list, these reports are referenced as " Thaton" and Field" respectively.

These photos may be duplicated, distributed or published for non-commercial purposes in the interest of spreading information on the plight of people in Burma.  Prints of most of the photos can be provided on request, but please send a contribution to cover transport, duplication and postal costs, and allow for the time it will take us to send the negatives out to be copied.  Photos can also be sent via email upon request.

Photo #1:  Tee Toh Po, a 38- year-old Karen farmer from Kru See village, showing the bullet wound he got when SLORC troops opened fire on him because he was running to escape being taken as a porter. ("Thaton", p. 1)

____________________________________

Photo #2:  Moo Ko, age 21, a Karen farmer who was captured by the SLORC troops from 27 Battalion when they entered Kru See village on 11 September.  They cut his throat at 4 a.m., the next morning, and the villagers discovered his body.  The bruises and broken bones all over his body indicate that he was probably very severely tortured before being executed.  Moo Ko’s father, the village headman, went to plead for the lives of his son and the two other men being held, but the soldiers beat him up and sent him away. ("Thaton", p. 1)

____________________________________

Photo #3:  Ko Naing, age 23, another Karen farmer who was captured in Kru See village by 27 Battalion troops on 11 September.   The villagers who found his body the next day say his nose had been mostly cut off and he had been stabbed in the eyes and both ears, as well as severely beaten. ("Thaton", p. 1)

____________________________________

Photo #4:  The bodies of the three young men, prepared for cremation - the two men described above, and Thein Win (left), age 18.   The soldiers had broken all of Thein Win’s teeth and his left arm before apparently killing him with a knife in his right ear. His ear was still pouring blood on the pillow when this photo was taken. ("Thaton", p. 1)

____________________________________

Photo #5:  The right side of Thein Win’s head (see photo #4), showing the blood still spilling out staining the pillow red . ("Thaton", p. 1)

____________________________________

Photo #6:  A relative of one of the young men watches over their bodies.  A Human Right monitor recorded an "interview" with one of the men’s mothers - which only consists of several minutes of uncontrolled crying, interspersed with cries that her youngest son is dead. ("Thaton", p. 1)

____________________________________

Photo #7:  A sick and malnourished baby Karen girl in Thaton district.  Infant mortality in these areas is often over 50%, thanks to SLORC offensives, looting, extortion, and the SLORC blockade against any medicines entering this 'insurgent' area.

____________________________________

Photos #8,9:  Some of many stacks of logs and sawn timber which local villagers and sawmill owners are being forced to provide to SLORC army camps, for use in military infrastructure projects and sale for profit by SLORC military officers. ("Thaton", p. 2)

____________________________________

Photo #10:  A Karen villagers who was taken, held and tortured for almost a month just because the local Battalion suspected that 11 SLORC deserters had passed through his village.  However, he hadn’t even seen these deserters.  His wrists still bear bruises and marks from being tied up for almost a month. ("Field", p. 3)

____________________________________

Photo #11:  The same villager (see photo #10) showing the marks on his wrists from being kept constantly tied up for weeks.

____________________________________

Photo #12:  A Karen villager from Papun District who was arrested as part of a group of 21 villagers, including men, women, and children only 3 years old.  The SLORC then sent a message to the villagers that if they did not obtain and surrender 2 guns and 2 walkie-talkies, all 21 people would be killed.  They were held for 2 weeks at the army camp before the villagers managed to obtain and hand over the requested weapons.  These weapons will probably be presented to superiors in Rangoon as "weapons captured in battle".

____________________________________

Photos #13-15:  A villager in Papun District who was shot from behind by a SLORC patrol because he was fleeing to avoid being taken as a porter.  The bullet entry wound is in the back of his right thigh, and the larger exit wound on the front of his thigh. Photos #14 and #15 show the standard of medicine in the area: he is having the wound cleaned with a needle and a string soaked in antiseptic, without anaesthetic. His bandage is a rag held on with a bamboo legging.

____________________________________

Photo #16:  A sick and dehydrated young man in Papun District.