“Do you know what we do to women who end up here? We rape and kill them ”: Allegations of brutality in Myanmar after the coup

Tortured, sexually harassed and threatened with rape while in police custody.

This is what the dramatic accounts of Myanmar women obtained by the BBC say.

Five women who were arrested for protesting the military coup earlier this year say they were abused and tortured after their arrest.

Their names have been changed to protect their safety.

Warning: This article contains descriptions of abuse that may be disturbing.

Since Myanmar’s military took power in February, protests have spread across the country and women have played a leading role in the resistance movement.

Human rights groups say that although the military in Myanmar (also known as Burma) has used tactics of enforced disappearance, hostage-taking and torture in the past, violence has increased since the coup.

As of December 8, 1,318 civilians had been killed during the military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement, including 93 women, according to the nonprofit human rights organization Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners (AAPP).

At least eight of those women died while in police custody, four of whom were tortured to death in an interrogation center.

More than 10,200 people have been arrested in total, including more than 2,000 women.

Democracy activist Ein Soe May was imprisoned for almost six months, of which the first 10 days were spent in one of Myanmar’s famous interrogation centers, where she alleges that she was sexually assaulted and tortured.

Soe May told the BBC that one morning, while making signs to protest, she was arrested and put in the back of a van.

“It was already night when I arrived [a un lugar no revelado]. They blindfolded me and made me dodge imaginary objects as I made my way to the interrogation room, so they could make fun of me, “said Soe May.

Her captors interrogated her. For each answer that they did not like, they hit her with a bamboo stick.

Soe May said she was also repeatedly pressured for details of her sex life.

An interrogator threatened her: “Do you know what we do to the women who end up here? We rape and kill them.”

Then it was sexually assaulted blindfolded.

“They pulled down the baggy blouse I was wearing and touched me as they did so, exposing my body,” she said.

Later the blindfold was removed and he saw one of the guards remove all but one of the bullets from his revolver.

When she did not give them details of her contacts, they forced her to open her mouth and “put the loaded pistol inside,” she said.

Makeshift detention centers

According to Manny Maung, Myanmar researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), interrogation centers “can be anything from makeshift places of detention to a room in a barracks or even an abandoned public building.”

This was corroborated by a lawyer in Myanmar who spoke to the BBC, but asked not to be identified for her own safety.

She represents several detainees who had also reported being tortured and sexually assaulted during interrogations, she said.

“One of my clients was mistakenly identified, but arrested anyway. When she explained that she was not the person that the authorities believed, she was tortured with an iron bar that was repeatedly rotated on her shins until she lost consciousness,” said the lawyer. .

The woman was then “sent to another interrogation center where, according to her, a guard told her that if she slept with him, he would release her,” she added.

The lawyer described the legal system in Myanmar as opaque, where lawyers like her sometimes feel powerless.

“We try to contest [las detenciones e interrogatorios], but they tell us that the processes are legal and that [los interrogadores] have received orders. “

While it is impossible to verify Soe May’s account, the BBC spoke with other detainees who also said they had been tortured and sexually assaulted in interrogation centers.

“They made me raise the three-finger salute [un símbolo de resistencia en Myanmar] for more than an hour while a guard stroked my hair to intimidate me, “said one detainee.

Another woman, who was taken to an interrogation center in Shwe Pyi Thar Township, said: “The girls were taken from the room; some came back with their clothing buttons unbuttoned or missing.”

“Fake news”

Makeshift detention centers

According to Manny Maung, Myanmar researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), interrogation centers “can be anything from makeshift places of detention to a room in a barracks or even an abandoned public building.”

This was corroborated by a lawyer in Myanmar who spoke to the BBC, but asked not to be identified for her own safety.

She represents several detainees who had also reported being tortured and sexually assaulted during interrogations, she said.

“One of my clients was mistakenly identified, but arrested anyway. When she explained that she was not the person that the authorities believed, she was tortured with an iron bar that was repeatedly rotated on her shins until she lost consciousness,” said the lawyer. .

The woman was then “sent to another interrogation center where, according to her, a guard told her that if she slept with him, he would release her,” she added.

The lawyer described the legal system in Myanmar as opaque, where lawyers like her sometimes feel powerless.

“We try to contest [las detenciones e interrogatorios], but they tell us that the processes are legal and that [los interrogadores] have received orders. “

While it is impossible to verify Soe May’s account, the BBC spoke with other detainees who also said they had been tortured and sexually assaulted in interrogation centers.

“They made me raise the three-finger salute [un símbolo de resistencia en Myanmar] for more than an hour while a guard stroked my hair to intimidate me, “said one detainee.

Another woman, who was taken to an interrogation center in Shwe Pyi Thar Township, said: “The girls were taken from the room; some came back with their clothing buttons unbuttoned or missing.”

“Fake news”

The BBC showed Soe May’s testimony to Myanmar’s Deputy Information Minister General Zaw Min Tun, who denied that the military carried out torture, calling it “fake news”.

Earlier this year, the army transmitted an image of a detainee. She had been hit so hard in the face that she was unrecognizable. The image went viral.

He remains in prison and faces weapons charges.

The BBC asked Zaw Min Tun why the military did not hide the wounds.

“It is something that can happen during arrests. They try to escape and we have to capture them,” he replied.

Solitary confinement

Abuse doesn’t just happen at secret interrogation sites.

An activist in her 50s, whom we call Lin, described to the BBC how she was placed in solitary confinement for more than 40 days at Insein Prison in Rangoon.

Lin had nothing in her cell except the clothes she was wearing, not even medication that she required. During his detention he grew weaker and weaker.

“I would lie down in the dark and worry that I would die,” he said.

“Sometimes I heard screams and cries from nearby cells. I kept thinking about who was being beaten.”

Lin recounted how one day an officer entered her cell with several female guards.

“When they were about to leave, I realized that the man was recording me,” he said. He denounced it but assures that it is “useless”.

HRW researcher Manny Maung told the BBC that often in prisons, some 500 women are crammed into rooms that only have enough space for up to 100 detainees. They have to take turns sleeping because they can’t all go to bed at the same time.

They are also denied basic sanitation, which they see as the denial of “a fundamental right”.

Maung, who went to the Shwe Pyi Thar Interrogation Center, also experienced this in prison.

“The women who had just arrived from the interrogation centers had wounds that had not healed, some were menstruating and were only allowed to shower after seven days in detention,” he said.

Soe May, who was released after an amnesty for more than 5,000 prisoners in October, said her activism was worth the fear of being arrested again.

“I understand that there is always the possibility that they will arrest me again and die, but I want to do something for my country,” he said.

“Even though I don’t feel safe, I want to continue to be part of this movement.”

Illustrations by Davies Surya and Jilla Dastmalchi.

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