Female political prisoners

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Websites/Multiple Documents

Description: Updated 10 March 2008...
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)
Date of entry/update: 2008-04-29
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Description: Women in Myanmar have been subjected to a wide range of human rights violations, including political imprisonment, torture and rape, forced labour, and forcible relocation, all at the hands of the military authorities. At the same time women have played an active role in the political and economic life of the country. It is the women who manage the family finances and work alongside their male relatives on family farms and in small businesses. Women have been at the forefront of the pro-democracy movement which began in 1988, many of whom were also students or female leaders within opposition political parties. Burman and non-Burman women. List of women in prison.ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced
Source/publisher: Amnesty International USA (ASA 16/04/00)
2000-05-24
Date of entry/update: 2010-11-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Former political prisoner recalls her arrest, detention and maltreatment... "It was a deceptively beautiful night, the stars glittering like ice crystals in a cold and black December sky. The ringing tones of an iron bar striking the hours signaled midnight—and then other sounds shattered the silence. Dogs barking, and the ominous clatter of combat boots in the street outside. I put down the book I was reading and knew the men in heavy boots were coming for me. I still had time to flee the house, but I stayed put. My grandmother was dozing nearby. From the nearby bedroom came the snores of my father. There were shouts: ?Anybody in the house, anybody there? We?re going to check the guest book record…open the door.” I opened the house door and then the entrance to the compound..."
Creator/author: Tha Zin
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol 15, No. 8
2007-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2008-05-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: A former political prisoner?s story of unrelieved horror... "When I began my sentence in Insein Prison in 1991 there were about 700 inmates. Before long, the number had swollen to 7,000. Convicted killers, drug traffickers, drug users, sex workers, vagrants, petty criminals, transgressors of local authority regulations—and political prisoners like myself. Over time, and as Burma?s economic misery deepened, the number of women imprisoned for prostitution and drug offenses increased noticeably. It was sad to see how many of them were still little more than children. Young or old, regardless of our offense and social background, we were condemned to a life stripped of pride, dignity and integrity, an unbroken existence of brutality, drudgery and filth. The days, weeks, months and years grew into what I called my ?diary in hell.”..."
Creator/author: Pho Thar Htoo
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol 15, No. 8
2007-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2008-05-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Prison life in Burma is hard enough for able-bodied men; for women, it can be a vision of hell... "At least 57 of the more than 1,100 political prisoners currently behind bars in Burma are women. Burma?s women were always prominent o­n the country?s political scene, joining the anti-colonial struggle that brought independence and then participating in the task of building a viable state. Since the 1988 popular uprising and subsequent crackdown that smothered the last vestiges of democracy, hundreds of women have been locked up for speaking out against their country?s descent into brutal dictatorship. The courage of these women demands special recognition because of their disdain for the ghastly conditions of prison life that they know await them. The list of abuses is long and makes for depressing reading—beatings and other acts of brutality, sexual harassment, humiliation, primitive living conditions, insufficient food and medical attention, a complete disregard for the special health and sanitary needs of women. o­ne political prisoner described her account of the horrors of life behind bars as her ?diary in hell.”..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol 15, No. 8
2007-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2008-04-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: PRESS RELEASE: Date: March 5, 2008... "People In Need (PIN), a Czech Republic based Human Rights Organization, is awarding the Homo Homini Award for 2007 to the Burmese female pro-democracy activists Ma Su Su Nway, Ma Phyu Phyu Thin and Ma Nilar Thein for their contribution in the struggle to restore democracy and human rights in Burma..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)
2008-03-05
Date of entry/update: 2008-04-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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