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Sarah Cauzillo Mrs. Roberge Global Ed. IV December 11, 2012 The Horror of Political Prison Camps

In a dark, damp, cold cell a man is huddled into a corner. He is thin like a twig, very breakable. His paper-like skin sags around his shrunken, weak muscles. His joints ache. He is filthyhe cannot remember the last time he bathed. Infection covers his body just as much as the swollen bruises and pussing wounds. His face is drawn into a permanent, agonizing frown. His throat is raspy from screaming. He is so dehydrated; his body cannot waste water on tears. His mind pounds in agony. Why, why, why will they not listen? Innocent! Innocent! Not again! No! Not again! His body shakes as he hears footsteps approach his cell. The noise painfully echoes in his head. His brain tries to comprehend the outside world sounds for the first time in a long time. His aching, broken heart will not even let him hope it is food, a blanket, his wife, or his daughter coming to him. How long has it been since he saw them? Are they still alive? His body is reacting to the explicit fear of the oncoming threat. Abruptly, a light shines into his cell he squeezes his eyes shut in pain at the intensity of the light, and a man in uniform is standing with something behind his back. You dirty criminal, he says. The man instinctively shrinks further into the corner. His muscles tense for the oncoming infliction. His heart quickens as he tries to hold onto the last strains of hope and life. This man is a political prisoner. A political prisoner is someone who is imprisoned for their political beliefs or for politically motivated actions. Some countries have created separate, specific prisons for dissidents such as these. They are seen as a ghastly disgrace to human rights organizations. Political prison camps are a Human Rights issue that cruelly and unfairly destroys the lives of

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human beings. It is imperative that these prisons are brought to international attention, that organizations work together to provide aid to the prisoners and that pressure is applied to the governments using these prisons to close them. One country that is unjustly holding prisoners and unfairly treating them is the United States. It has been ten years since the first shipment of detainees arrived at the United States prison camp Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. In the ten years, 779 detainees have been confined at Guantanamo Bay (Clifton 1). Ten years of waiting, ten years of torture, ten years of pain and suffering, ten years of fear, and ten years of injustice. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay also counts: Three years since January 22 2009, when the President ordered its closure within twelve months. Yet the facility continues to exist and individuals remain arbitrarily detained indefinitely in clear breach of international law (Pillay Deeply). The unreasonable treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo is evident in every aspect. Although many believe prisoners in Guantanamo are all terrorists and deserve the treatment they receivethat is not always the case. In fact, eighty-six percent of detainees were not found by United States investigators, but turned over by those seeking payment of a bounty (Clifton 1). That raises doubt upon the credibility of these detainees capture. And although it might be easy to imagine all of the detainees as evil, manipulative, and out to get the U.S., it is disturbing to know that both a fourteen year old boy and an eighty-nine year old man were brought into Guantanamo (Clifton 1). There must have been worthy evidence to bring such a young boy and such an old man to Guantanamo to answer terrorism accusations. They were turned in for a bounty over questionable documents (Leigh 1).

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In any case, there are multiple circumstances of innocence behind the bars of Guantanamo. First, Jamal al-Harith, a British resident was held for years. He was held in 2003 because he was thought to have knowledge of Taliban techniques after being held in a Taliban prison himself. He was sentenced to time in prison againmore time taken out of his lifeeven though he was not a threat to the United States, and tortured awfully. A second British national was held and tortured even after the evidence was inconclusive and charges were dropped (Leigh 1). That is two innocent British men who were robbed of precious years of their lives, careers and families. A third case of innocence behind bars is Lakhadar Boumediene. He was held in Guantanamo for seven and a half years. He is a Bosnian citizen and worked with the Red Crescent, a non-governmental organization similar to the Red Cross, helping child victims of war. In October of 2001 he was arrested falsely and accused of being part of an al Qaeda operation to blow up the United States embassy in Bosnia. Bosnias highest court found no evidence against him and demanded his release. The United States government then kidnapped him and sent him to Guantanamo where he was: beaten, sleep deprived, forced to experience extreme temperatures, and forced to hold painful positions for periods of time. When he participated in a hunger strike protesting his innocence, he was force-fed for two years. He was later found innocent by the Supreme Court and released in 2008 (Injustice at Guantanamo 1). But nothing could give him back the seven and a half years away from his children growing up. Some other cases of innocence are just lacking any sense. For example, an al-Jazeera journalist was interrogated for six years behind bars at Guantanamo for information on the Arabic news network (Leigh 3). Another case was a taxi driver held in Guantanamo because he might have possessed knowledge of activities in Khowst and Kabul as a result of driving through the area (Leigh 3). The United States government has and is unfairly holding people, and consequently

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taking away years of their lives based on unreliable and faulty evidence. More evidence is necessary against these prisoners in order for the U.S. government to take away ones home, family, career and years of life. It is almost ironic, considering the United States prides itself as a country home of the free and boasts their passion of liberty and justice for all. On the contrary though, the High Commissioner of Human Rights at the UN, Navi Pillay, chastised President Obama in January of 2012 because the prison is in violation of International Law, Every effort must be made to hold to account those responsible for the development, approval or implementation of coercive interrogation methods analogous to torture under international law. She was also distraught that the United States government denied independent human rights monitoring of the detention conditions at Guantanamo (Pillay Deeply). The imprisonment of these detainees is cruel, and to the rest of the worldimmoral. Despite that, cruelty is more common inside Guantanamo than water. Prisoners inside Guantanamo Bay are treated worse than vermin. The interrogators appear to have no respect for the life they hold in their hands. Villain, or no villain; enemy or no enemy; the prisoners are still people; they are husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons. No one deserves the inhumane, awful torture prisoners receive. So simple are a persons needs, one could forget how horrific it is to have them taken away. The FBI conducted an investigation into Guantanamo Bays techniques, and their results are as follows. It is common for detainees to be chained hand and foot in the fetal position. They are given no chair, food, or water; disgustingly, they are forced to urinate and defecate on themselves. Moreover, they are left like this for eighteen to twenty-four hours, or more (Federal Bureau 1). Interrogators also use fear as their greatest weapon. It will eat away at a prisoners mind and soul like no man-made weapon can. They use the fear of dogs on detainees. Detainees are put in darkened cells, plywood huts, or

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shacks next to the dog cages to listen to their growls and barking all night (Federal Bureau 2). Arguably worse than the use of fearis isolation. Being completely cut out from the outside worldno human contact, no fresh air, nothing but oneself and ones mind. It could, and does, drive a man insane. Detainees are put into isolation for long periods of time after complaining about food to guards (Federal Bureau 2). If that does not drive a man insane, interrogation for up to twenty-four hours straight surely could (Federal Bureau 1). Non-stop harsh, hateful interrogation is dreadful. The stress, hurt and pressure is too much for many detainees. One detainee was so upset; he ripped out his hair, threw himself on the floor, and begged to be allowed to kill himself (Federal Bureau 1). The mental torture could destroy a man, but there is physical torture as well. Prisoners are forced to withstand holding stress positions. For example, a detainee must stay in the baseball catcher position for hours upon hours, squatting like a baseball catcher. Bruises arise from the weakening muscles, but they must maintain the position (Federal Bureau 1). Other punishments or interrogation techniques include: standing for prolonged periods, isolation for up to thirty days or more, removal of clothing, forced shaving of facial hair, playing on phobias, grabbing, poking, light pushing, use of wet towel as suffocation and an interrogators invention of a game: drink water or wear itif the detainee cannot swallow the water or at the speed desired, it is dumped all over their face (Leigh 2). During long interrogation sessions the air conditioning is so high, the barefoot detainee is shaking from the frigid temperatures. Or the room is cranked up to 100 degrees and the detainee can almost become unconscious in the unventilated sweltering room. The interrogators do not even regard the physical state the prisoners are in at all. A nurse declared one detainee had hypothermia, low blood pressure, and low body core temperature. The Lieutenant Colonel in charge denied the medical evidence and

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ordered a continuation of the interrogation techniques (Federal Bureau 2). Interrogation techniques are taken to an outrageous level when interrogators are purposely and meaningfully using what is dear to a prisoner against them. Arabic men are strictly conservative in their relationships with women. Female guards participated in lap dances over the men to make them uncomfortable. Guards straddled the Koran; some dressed as a Christian minister and tried to save the detainee, and disrupted their prayers by making them feel unclean and upsetting them. It is disgustingly cruel and inhumane at this point. It is mistreatment of the highest degree. At some point, it is no longer a tool for answers, but a tool for destruction. Once, a guard entered a cell unprovoked and spat and cursed at [the detainee], called him SOB, bastard, and crazy. [The] Detainee rolled on stomach to protect [him] self . . . [the] soldier jumped on his back, beat him in the face, then choked him until he passed out. [He] said he was beating him because he was a Muslim. Female guard also beat him and grabbed his head and beat it into the cell floor (Federal Bureau 2). The interrogators have forgotten, or clearly cared not to remember, that those prisoners are fellow human beings on this earth. That treatment is far beyond unacceptable, and is quite franklywrong. The treatment of the prisoners is only a part of what is wrong at Guantanamo Bay. One of the problems with such ill-treatment of the prisoners is the lack of evidence to prompt the imprisonment and torture. Guidance was given by the U.S. government for interrogators at Guantanamo whether to hold or release a prisoner. One reason to hold a prisoner was: [if they] travel to Afghanistan [for] any reason after 11 September 2001, it is a total fabrication. Another guideline to hold detainees was: [a] link to a number of mosques around the world, including two in London. The most outlandish was: ownership of a particular model of Casio watch (Leigh 2). This is absurd, and outrageous that the United States would

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order and evoke such an unbearable life to someone at Guantanamo for some circumstances as trivial as that. And yet, they have. A man was incarcerated because he was a Mullah, who led prayers at Manu Mosque in Kandahar province in Afghanistan which placed him in a position to have special knowledge of the Taliban. A mullah is an educated Muslim trained in religious law and doctrine (Leigh 3). He was held for more than a year, suffering. He was released when it was decided he had no intelligence value. They had shipped him all the way to Guantanamo and wasted part of his life (Federal Bureau 1). These people do not deserve this punishment the government itself has admitted that ninety-two percent of prisoners were never even alQaeda fighters (Clifton 1). It is shocking, if Guantanamo holds so many terrorists, that military commissions have only charged and convicted six detainees out of all 779 villains to enter the gates (Clifton 2). Yet, the government decided the innocents fate and mandated their anguish. Hope is small and an almost unheard word whispering in the wind at Guantanamo. Unfortunately, 171 detainees are still held at Guantanamo Bay, even though eighty-nine have been cleared for release (Clifton 1). Although there was a promise of hope, it was broken. After President Obama had promised to close the prison in 2008, the White House acknowledged it would miss President Obamas initial January 2010 deadline for shutting down the prison (Yasui 2). Through the agony and languishing, some glimmers of courage do prevail. Mr. Lakhadar Boumedienean innocent prisoner of seven yearsfought the system and brought his despair all the way to the Supreme Court in 2008 in Boumediene v. Bush. The court ruled in his favor and stated that the detainees in Guantanamo must have meaningful opportunity to challenge their confinement. This case changed all the rules at Guantanamo and gave faith to hundreds. Mr. Boumediene was released because no credible evidence was brought forth; the government had relied on one

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single unnamed informant as their evidence against him (Injustice at Guantanamo 2). The Supreme Court brought down the hammer on the government for Guantanamo: no matter how serious the accusation [they] have a right to a day in court. Mr. Boumediene says, the Supreme Court recognized a basic truth: the government makes mistakes. The court also stated, that because the consequences of error may be detention of persons that may last a generation or more this is a risk too significant to ignore (Boumediene 1). Mr. Boumediene paved a path lined in liberty and hope for salvation. Under the excruciating oppression of the U.S. government in Guantanamo, a few cases have made some headway. In 2010 Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. and Judge David Tatel of the Federal District Court in Washington found flaws in the report of Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif. He was never heard of in any camps or safe houses, and had no other records. Judge Tatel faulted those who gave conclusive weight to a sketchy report produced in the fog of war (Savage 1). There are still many problems to fix though. The majority of Guantanamo prisoners have been unanimously cleared for release by the United States intelligence and military communities, but remain incarcerated (Injustice at Guantanamo 1). Those cleared for release need to be freed. Those who are still held without answers deserve the right to a day in court to fight for freedom. It is a lot easier to bang the drum of fear than to sound the call of justice (Injustice at Guantanamo 2); the United States government should be called upon by all people to fight such fear and bring forth justice. The prisoners held by the United States are not the only ones who deserve justice. Prisoners in North Korea are suffering as well. Since 1972, it is estimated that one million innocent men, women, and children have been brutally murdered inside North Korean political prison camps, known as gulags (Park 1). These murderous tragedies continue today. Although exact numbers are hard to come by, due to the

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opaque veil with which North Korea drapes around itselfapproximately 200,000 people are struggling for survival in the camps today (Bielefeld 1). In North Korea, it is believed that forced labor will change inmates intrinsic nature and restore to true characteristics [it is a] means of rehabilitation and political correction (Bielefeld 4). Within the camps, a daily life for those aged sixteen to sixty-five behind barbed wires and the overbearing presence of guards includes: hard labor work between 5:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m., a break, hard labor work between 1:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m., ideological indoctrination classes until 10:00 p.m. or work until 8:00 p.m. (Bielefeld 1). Often laborers are worked to death. Approximately 400,000 others have died from torture, starvation, disease, or execution. Such treatment of humans is atrocious. The prisoners are controlled like animals. Guards keep the prisoners in a state of all-consuming-hunger to exercise their control over the prisoners. Food is promised, or threatened to be taken away. Google Earth estimates in one camp that forty small huts in an area are for 160 families (Bielefeld 5). So if the starvation, exhaustion, and exposure are not atrocious enough and not deleterious enoughsome sort of malady will kill the weakened prisoners. Even the doctors are prisoners. The lack of concern given for human life is diminutive beyond all reason. Pellagra, tuberculosis, hepatitis, gastric disorders, frostbite and receding into mental madness occurs to many prisoners. No immunizations or any type of medical treatment is given to help keep them alive. Sickeningly, their deaths are as insignificant as a flysif not even hoped for; for they are seen as enemies of the state. It is said that, North Korea has reinvented its Stalinist-style gulag, which has focused on repression of political opponents (Bielefeld 5). It is absolutely morbid to think human beings could treat other human beings this way, but against all hopeit still happens. Some of the goals of the camp include: punish and isolate potential dissidents, use the

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camps as a system of domestic terror, hence enforcing obedience and suppressing, generating fear: uncovering, investigating, punishing, and purging political prisoners (Bielefeld 1). It is sick and sadistic to treat a human population this way, the situation screams for help. The prisoners are not only locked away physically from freedom, but they are locked within the strict rules that govern them. A strict list of rules includes, but is not limited to: No escape; no more than three inmates may meet together; no stealing; obey officers; immediately report suspicious behavior; report on others behavior; over-fulfill all tasks; no male-female contact; be truly remorseful for mistakes; immediately shot by firing squad if rules are broken (Bielefeld 5). Guards can also beat detainees for just about anything, and they frequently punish prisoners communally. In addition, women particularly feel the heat of unfair cruelty. Women are considered sex slaves in the camps by the guards. If they are to conceive, the child is aborted and almost always the woman is murdered. This sort of malicious treatment not only annihilates human lives, but unfairly creates monsters of the living (Bielefeld 5). Shin In Geun is an example of the barely living, tortured, afflicted monsters that come from the North Korean political prison camp. As of early 2012, he is the only living survivor born in a political prison camp to escape (Inside North Korea's 1). His story offers an abominable, but perfect insight into the horror of a political prison camp in North Korea. Total separation is key in order to maintain control, and so, Shin did not know the existence of a basic human need: love. He did not know the meaning of the word family. He looked at family members as competition for food. His mother beat him; his brother was unknown to him. His mother and father were chosen as rewards and could sleep together only five times a year. Shins birth, therefore, was even prearranged by the guards. It was imperative his parents follow

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the sexual contact rule; otherwise his parents would be shot immediately (Inside North Korea's 1). What most people take for grantedbasic survival needs met, and family loveShin did not just have stolen from him, but never even knew such existed. Children were considered deceitful and abused. He learned to survive by telling on others. He did not even know he was supposed to love his mother until he reached the United States where that was the norm. He was born in that camp, an innocent, delicate baby; yet he was sentenced to a life in hell. When he ate dinner with his mother, it was only a tease of food, to agonize his famished stomach. They had a daily ration of 700 grams of cornmeal, they cooked in the one pot they owned and ate on the floor. It was not just the insufficient amount of cornmeal they had to consume but the cornmeal itself was another laceration. In North Korea, rice is considered a symbol of wealth, or a proper meal shared with a close family. The lack of rice in the camp is a daily reminder of normality they can never have (Inside North Korea's 2). As stated before, these camps truly dehumanize its inhabitants, and take away all one deserves as a human. Shin testifies that, [he] was more faithful to the guards than to [his] family. After overhearing his mother and brother talk of escape, he immediately turned on his own kin in exchange for more food and to be promoted to grade leader (Inside North Korea's 2). Of course, his mother and brother were caught and as a result all paid the pricea lesson to be burned into the mind of all prisoners. As customary, Shin was tortured endlessly. He was stripped, tied by rope to his ankles and wrists and suspended from a hook in the ceiling. He was then lowered over fire. After, he was put into a small cell and did not see the light of day for eight months. Shins father, not in any way connected to the escape attempt, suffered as well. For eight months his father was tortured, resulting in the termination of his rather comfortable job as a camp mechanic. As a result of his handicap, he would be demoted to work as an

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unskilled laborer. All attended the executions of Shins mother and brotherShin himself was forced to witness at least two to three executions per year. This time though, Shin and his father were forced to sit front row for the execution; Shin felt no remorse only hate and righteousness that they deserved to die. The prison camps of North Korea are past disgusting and inhumane; Shin describes that it is not only the soldiers who beat prisoners down, but fellow prisoners beat prisoners. There is no sense of community. The camp had warped his character completely (Inside North Korea's 4). This level of disturbing treatment should never be endured by any one. The ghastly treatment of a person is clearly defined within these stories, but the reasons one becomes a prisoner is outrageous. Unfair and unjust are not ample words enough to accurately describe the brutal reasons why most are imprisoned. One prisoner was sent away for singing a South Korean song. Most others are sent for having relatives or connections to South Korea or Japan (Scanlon 1). Witnesses say that Kim Jong Il explained they would: root out class enemies for three generations, family members of accused persons were also sent to the camps (Bielefeld 4). Another heartbreaking story is of Kim Hae-Sook, sent away at age thirteen for thirty years because her grandfather fled to South Korea in the 1960s. Her crime was guiltby-association. She worked in the dangerous mines for sixteen to eighteen hours a day. Her agony was brutal and a clear reflection of life in the camps. She scrounged for food by picking grass, and picking leaves to stay alive (Laurence, Park 1). Witnesses state that the average annual starvation related deaths in the prison camps range from an astonishing fifteen to twentyfive percent. (Bielefeld 6) Again, like Shin In Geun, Kim Hae-Sook was scarred for life. She watched torture and public executions hundreds of times. She watched three of her own family members die before her eyes from starvation and work-related accidents (Laurence, Park 1).

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This exposure changes a person until they are not even human at all. The prisoners right to life was taken from them. The torture, the control, and the suffering bear down with mighty power from the state. The prisoners are sent without any judicial process or knowing the charges against them (Scanlon 1). Raphael Lenkin an activist, scholar, and coiner of the term: genocide, states that, Sovereignty implies [that] all types of activity [are] directed towards the welfare of the people. Sovereignty cannot be conceived as the right to kill millions of innocent people (International Law 1). North Korea is an abusive government that refuses to acknowledge the terror living within its land; North Korean officials have told the United Nations in the past that there are not any political prison camps existing within the country (Scanlon 1). And therefore, no one has any sort of concrete figures on just how bad the situation isthey will never admit to the political prisoners (Laurence, Park 1). But the horror is clear and unforgivable; the camps are comparable to those in Nazi camps at Mauthausen and Buchenwald exhaustion, disease, starvation, and arbitrary brutality take place as regular as the sun rising and setting (Bielefeld 2). Although North Korea will not admit to the abhorrence, the world sees its faults. The North Korean regime violates international treaties, such as Basic Human Rights and Customary International Law (International Law 1). A long list has been complied of the breaks in the treaties North Korea has committed: freedom from discrimination, right to life, right to humane treatment, freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman/degrading treatment, freedom from slavery, forced labor, right to liberty and security, right to free movement, right to fair trial, right to privacy, freedom of thought, conscience, religion, freedom of expression, freedom of association, right to development, right to work, right to food, and right to health. This includes

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at least six broken treaties that North Korea is a part of (International Law 1). North Korea has, through its political prison camps, committed crimes against humanity; which defined by the International Criminal Court is: when committed as part of widespread/systematic attack directed against any civilian population with knowledge of the attack. North Korea has committed just that through the governments direct placement of civilian populations inside the camps. An attack is defined as follows: Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation of population, imprisonment, severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, sexual violence, inhumane acts of similar causing great suffering serious injury to bodily/mental/physical health ("International Law 3). The stories of survivors of the camps speak for themselves; the North Korean government needs to be stopped, because their waste of human life is disgraceful. The unbelievable horrors fellow human beings experience day in and day out for no fault, is inexcusable and unacceptable. The evidence of tens of thousands of voices of refugees offers tons of proof of crimes against humanity (Park 4). Much can be done to speak for those whose voices cannot be heard. For one, mass demonstrations. Never have more than 100,000 gathered to protestvoices must be heard! Although no civilian mass demonstration has taken place yet, mass cries from the UN General Assembly was heard in March of 2012 for the sixth straight year, when it passed yet another resolution against North Korea. Many members signed on with grave concerns about continuing reports of systemic, widespread, and grave violations of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights and concerns about all-pervasive and severe restrictions on the freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association (World Report 1). Moreover, A Non-Government Organization (NGO) strike would also be moving. All supporting North Korea should withdraw

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and declare the action as protest to of the camps. Recently a new International Coalition to Stop Crimes against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK), comprised of 41 international NGOs, was launched in September to advocate for the establishment of a United Nations commission of inquiry on North Korea (World Report 1). Furthermore, it is important for nations to use their resources smartly because refugees are in need (Park 2). The stories of survivors should disturb and move them. Currently, 30,000 refugees are in Seoul (Scanlon 1). This is an increase to the few thousand taking shelter there a few years ago. This is the action needed to bring justice and aid to those who so greatly deserve it. The prisoners held in North Korea are not the only ones who are desperately in need of aid. Prisoners in Burma are in anguish as well. In 2008 it was believed that 2,092 political prisoners were held inside the horrific gates of Burmas political prisons (Gopal 1). Burma, or Myanmar, holds prisoners as a tool to silence their cries of oppression, injustice, and inhumane treatment. The cruel brutality the Burmese political prisoners face is disturbingly ruthless, and the prisons themselves are equally terrifying and awful. The vast, chilling prisons of Burma are a nightmare. There are at least forty-three documented prisons and a possibility of over 100 labor camps. The exact number is unknown because of the secrecy surrounding the prisons by the government. They are mostly located in the mountainous frontier regions of Burma. Here, prisoners are forced to endure freezing temperatures and harsh wet seasons. Because of the miserable wet seasons, many suffer from malaria. These prisons are in absolutely unlivable condition. Prisoners spend their sentences in ten feet by ten feet or twelve feet by eight feet cells with no window (They Dont Discriminate 1). Their daily routine consists of almost nothing; they sew or carve trinkets alone all day in their cells. If they are in a labor camp, they are put to work all day. Labor prisoners spend their

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time in isolated rural areas. They work for the military, carrying supplies and providing labor for military duties (Extreme Measures 4). Their growling stomachs are often left empty, but occasionally they are lucky enough to ease the edge off starvation with a watery soup of fish paste. Usually each hall of cells has a pair of buckets to share among about twelve inmates as a toilet (Gopal 1). It is hard to imagine that kind of life while in the comfort of ones own home

with securities and freedom. In Burma, prisoners are fighting disease, insanity, and are not even allowed to say the word democracy (Gopal 1). Not many people understand the type of torture it is taking ones freedom away. Sickeningly though, the Burmese government believes that the prisoners deserve this. The most horrendous place a prisoner could end up is the infamous Insein Prison. Not only is it the largest prison in Burma, but it has the reputation for the most gruesome treatment and conditions. Those convicted have private hearings in the special court somewhere deep inside the mysterious prison. The prison was built for a maximum of 5,000 inmates, but 10,000 inmates currently reside there ("Inside Burma's 1). The term: overcrowding is an understatement. Witnessing the poor health conditions would make a persons skin crawl. In the summer, there is no water to bathe inno one is clean. Disease passes easily and to make matters worse, there are only three doctors to care for all 10,000 inmates. Tuberculosis, scabies, dysentery, and mental illness are the most common ailments ("Inside Burma's 1). The sick, wretched living conditions these human beings are forced to endure are abominable. Even more awful, the conditions are not the only challenges prisoners must combat to survive. At the very least, it is estimated that 152 political prisoners have died since 1988 solely due to physical torture (Home 1). Prisoners must survive under the worst conditions and inhumane torture. If they die, their families surely do not receive any kind of compensation

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(Home 1). Even before most reach their fate in prison, they spend time in interrogation. This is no interrogation in a chair, next to a lawyer with a time limit. It is repulsive that these dissidentsthese human beingsusually spend about a month or more in interrogation facing physical, psychological, and emotional torture such as sleep deprivation, beatings, stress positions, and humiliation ("Inside Burma's 1). Nay Myo Zin was a considerably lucky prisoner, he was able to have a court hearingbut he came to court in a hospital stretcher because he had suffered a shattered lower vertebrae and a broken rib from torturous interrogation (Extreme Measures 5). Accounts of surviving witnesses have provided a list of torture techniques used during interrogation: beating with rods and chains; roll a rod on shins until the skin peels off; motorcycle stress position for long periods of time; mock execution; mock suffocation/drowning; water torture; sleep and water deprivation; witnessing other detainees torture; solitary confinement (Extreme Measures 5). These are people, these are human beings. The interrogators look with their own two eyes into a similar pair of human eyes and participate in these acts of torment, and it is monstrously sadistic. When dissidents reach the prison, the torture is increasedit is never ending. A prisoner was forced to stand for a period of time with their hands cuffed while being kicked, boxed and beaten. He was denied food and water, and was forced to kneel down, with his arms raised, naked. The guards burned his genitals with hot wax and boxed his ears. They blindfolded him and told him, If you die, its nothing to us (Extreme Measures 6). The physical torture harms a body beyond repair. But what really warps the mind is the psychological and emotional torture. Solitary confinement is a common form. It is extreme torture on a persons mental state, and can cause as much sufferingif not moreas physical torture. Prisoners are put into

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solitary cells in the dog cellblock. They are only allowed out to bathe. They are monitored, intimidated, and threatened (Extreme Measures 10). As if daily survival is not an arduous enough challenge, the prisoners must survive the mentally and physically taxing punishments given out by the prison guards for misbehavior. For example, a prisoners cell will not be cleaned for a month and the cell become unhealthy and filthy; they are also forbidden from showers, and aside from the cleanliness factor, a shower is the only five minutes many prisoners are let out of their cell. Another form of punishment is living with twenty-two pound shackles for up to seven months. Sometimes, prisoners are forced to clean the disgustingly eroding iron bars of their own cella form of physical and mental torture, understandably. Lastly, and the most outrageous, is when the prisoner is given a plastic bag, and he must catch flies with it. If not enough flies are caught, he undergoes excruciating torture to pay the price ("We Were Blindfolded 1). The prisons goal is to have suffering at an all-time high for the political dissidents; it is viciously vulgar. The lack of humane treatment is shocking and heartbreakingly unjust. In a labor camp, punishments are handled somewhat similarly. An unnamed surviving laborer describes that, there was no time to drink water [he] was watched when [he] stretched [his] waist to relax muscle tension, they swore at[him] the rest lasted for about three minutes then they punched [him] right in the face, youre a lazy guy they said. They aimed to strike [him] on the head with the handle of [his] mattock, but it hit on [his] shoulder it broke collarbone and [they] kicked [his] waist (Extreme Measures 3). This man had only hoped for a moment of rest in the blistering heat of his decade long prison sentence. But unfortunately, human needs such as rest are considered too much to hope for. The prisons are merciless in their hope for total destruction of human life.

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The lack of health concern is even more inhumane. Medical treatment is regularly withheld as a form of torture (Gopal 2). There is extremely poor health care in prisons (Extreme Measures 4). In fact, the average doctor to prisoner ratio is 1 to 8,000 ("Inside Burma's 1). It seems are there are no hopes for survival and hope is a basic human need to carry on. Instead these lifeless prisoners carry feelings of anger, anxiety, and depression. Many leave prison with mental illnesses that continue to impose them after they are released. It is so unfairly deserved, that it makes it all worse. Humanity is all the people of Burma ask for, all the political dissidents fight forbut they are severely oppressed and suffer immensely for it. Min Ko Naing protested in 2007 for the increasing fuel prices and he was sentenced to sixty-five years in prison. It is absurd that he spent most of it in solitary confinement where he spent at least twenty-three hours a day in a cell and was denied medical treatment for his illnesses (Health Concern 1). Student activism is a crucial force in the hope for freedom in Burma. It is the collective spirit and the ability to organize and command so well that makes them so dangerous. Unfortunately, it also makes them an immense target among political dissidents. They are jailed or murdered. It is a lockdown on personal freedomthat it is cruel. When the citizens fight for their rights, they pay the price. Currently, it is estimated that 269 students are behind bars; fiftytwo of them are serving fifteen or more years; twenty-nine are serving sixty-five or more years. Bo Min Yuko was recently sentenced to 104 years in prison for organizing a student union (Sot 1). It is a burdensome price that these students pay. Thiha Yarzar of the All Burma Students Democratic Front, a protest group against the government, paid the ultimate price. He was put into a dark room with little water, and when water was brought to him it was toilet water. In forty-seven days, he ate food only six or seven times. He was beaten with a rubber tube filled

Cauzillo 20

with rice. He was handcuffed, punched, and slapped in the face, kicked in the ribs and back, and had the wooden bar rolled on his shins. His hands and ankles were tied and he was swung and kicked. He was put into solitary confinement and was told his wife and daughter were dead. All the time he suffered from malaria with a one hundred degree temperature without access to medical treatment (They Told Me 1). That is beyond disturbing, it is beyond torture and cruelty, it is a complete disregard of human life. It is even more tragic to know that such young people are forced to endure this as well. Fourteen year olds spend years in prison for passing out leaflets (We Were Blindfolded 1). They are vigilant and unswerving in their fight though; even facing a sixty-eight year sentence a member of Gambira (All-Burma Monks Alliance) published: The use of mass arrests, murder, torture, and imprisonment has failed to extinguish our desire for the freedom that was stolen from us so many years ago! ("Monthly Chronology 1). The most horrifying, ghastly torture is torture beyond any repair; barbarous inhumanity to the upmost extent. Another member of Gambira was beaten on the head with a one to two inch thick stick every fifteen minutes for an entire month straight, while handcuffed behind his back with iron shackles in a hood. He was spoon-fed and urinated and defecated on the chair he sat in. The next month he was sent into solitary confinement. He suffered from severe, painful headaches. He was injected with an unknown drug that would then make him fall asleep for five hours at a time that would put him in a daze when he awoke, unable to speak properly. He later became addicted to the injection due to the frequency of his sever pain (Extreme Measures 20). The other dreadful account was Ko Thet New. He was handcuffed behind his back with wooden shackles, and his faced was pushed into human excrement as a means of forcing him to talk. He also underwent electric shock treatment. He suffered from tuberculosis, nervous system

Cauzillo 21

ailments, mental disorders and liver cancer. At the time of his release, he could no longer walk and could not even recognize his own sister (Extreme Measures 21). To just say this was wrong would be saying there were only a few deaths in the Holocaust. Wickedly enough, the Burmese government has no issues with this treatment. The Burmese government is a complete failure because of the treatment they give their people. The Burmese law and constitution does not even explicitly prohibit torture. Laws actually allow for imprisonment of opponents of the regime. The Emergency Provisions Act and the Unlawful Association give police the power to arrest political dissidents without warrants. And yet, they deny the torture because it is against domestic law (Extreme Measures 33). This is inexorable. There is no justice, no righteousness; it is all corrupt. The Presidentof the military backed governmentis Thein Sein. He picks the judges, so the judges are dependent on military selection. Therefore, they are biased judges during hearings. Judges also do not have any jurisdiction for crimes committed by the military. Burma denies any problems in the court system (Extreme Measures 29). This is not just a matter within the states boundaries, this treatment is internationally disallowed. Even though Burma is not part of many treaties, No state is exempt from customary international law obligations, even if that state has not ratified relevant treaties (Extreme Measures 18). The international standard also requires authorities to bring charges immediately after the arrest, and holding detainees for months or years without charges is amounting to torture (Peaceful Protestors 1). The Burmese government is continuing their plans and continuing to be a failure in the eyes of the international law and world. The last release of prisoners still does not meet their past promises. Independent monitoring is needed. Unfortunately, Burmas political prisoners find that when they are freed they are still not really

Cauzillo 22

free. The Ministry of Home Affairs refuses to issue passports to released political prisoners and many are denied the ability to resume their university studies. This is inexcusable, and out of hand. It is way past time for these issues to be resolved. Prior to the November 2010 elections, it was estimated that there were 2,200 political prisoners behind bars. It is a rough estimation because of the lack of transparency at the government and prison level; there are many inaccessible and unknown prisons (Gopal 1). This government is outrageous and acting unjustifiably. Burma is taking meager steps towards bettering the situation. While President Thein Sein says the occasional releasing of prisoners is done on humanitarian grounds it is believed it is to prolong the friendships with neighboring countries ("Burma: Free Remaining 1). Also they hope to end international isolation ("Monthly Chronology 1). As of September 17, 2012 there was a release of eighty-eight political prisoners. It was the fourth Amnesty declared by President Thein Sein in the last year. This brings the total to 500 political prisoners released (Burma: Free Remaining 1). Also, for those still in prison, there is the help of an uprising influential organization known as the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) or AAPPB which is made of some former political prisoners. They help to arrange deliveries of medicine and/or emergency provisions to detainees through limited/scarce/if possible family visits (Gopal 1). Many survivors actually escape to Thailand to join the AAPPB; although, the travel is mostly illegal because the Thailand government does not want to start difficulties with Burma. In Thailand, members of the AAPPB have created museums featuring jails that are like those in the prisons of Burma to raise international awareness and preserve the memory of the victims of the military regime (Gopal 1). It is important that this sort of awareness of political prisons around the world is brought to everyones attention. One of the greatest fighters for a free democratic

Cauzillo 23

Burma and freedom for the political prisoners is Aung San Suu Kyi. She spent about fifteen years under house arrest or in the notorious Insein Prison. In 1989, she walked straight into rifles held by soldiers ordered to assassinate her. She has won the Rafto Human Rights Prize, and the Nobel Peace Prize. Suu Kyi today discourages tourists from visiting Burma and businessmen from investing in the country until it is free ("Aung San). Countries that have created political prison camps are in full support of continuing their work. Consequently, no one in the government is trying to help the prisoners there. In countries such as Burma or North Korea, anyone who speaks out against the prisons or tries to offer help or liberation may find themselves in the prison as well. Therefore, the ideal country is a country without a political prison camp at all. China is a country with many political prisons scattered across their land. Many prisoners include Falun Gong believers or journalists. The majority of prisoners are those who have endangered state security or in reality, have spoken out against specific Communist Party leaders, the laws, or China itself (China 6). On the other hand, China has at least made miniscule steps toward better human treatment. In 2010 the vice-minister in Chinas Foreign Ministry, Fu Ying, said: China has moved on, and the world has moved on. So much has changed I really dont hear much mentioning of Chinas human rights progress (Ching 1). During an interview, she highlighted some of Chinas major progresses; such as in 2004, when protection of human rights was added in to Chinas constitution (Ching 1). Compared to North Korea, or Burma, at least China has created some laws. For example, they created the National Human Rights Action plan in 2010 against the extortion of confessions by torture (Kine 1). Vice-minister Ying said that China is currently in the third wave of human rights movements. The two previous were unsuccessful, but she was confident that this wave would lead to a human

Cauzillo 24

rights accomplishment. She said, China is not rejecting the idea of human rights but is learning gradually and absorbing ideas that can be planted and grown and prosper on Chinese soil (Ching 2). Although there is still much skepticism about Chinas progress, even some Chinese people are hopeful for improvement. Li Datong was fired in 2006 from his job as editor at a Communist youth newspaper for printing an article that opposed the Communist party. He says, In 1983, I would probably have been arrested. Nothing we do today was possible 25 years ago. Compared with then, the human rights situation in China has improved like never before (Ford). In addition, in criminal and political cases dissidents are now allowed access to a lawyer, which also would have been impossible twenty-five years ago (Ford). Situations are still awful for those who have a different opinion of how China should be run though. Liu Xiaobo, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 was given an 11-year prison sentence in 2009 for taking part in writing a proposal for political and legal reform in China. At the end of the prison sentence, he will also be devoid of political rights for two years (Stack). It is unfortunate that this sort of action is not uncommon still in China. The Chinese government loves to put people under house arrest, like Liu Xiaobo, for their political opposition. China is nowhere near a perfect or model country, but tiny efforts might be seen there. Although there is no ideal country for political prisoners (besides a country without a political prison), there are ideal organizations. Amnesty International is a strong force against political prisons. Amnesty International actually began with the fight for political prisoners. After learning of two Portuguese students imprisoned for raising a toast to freedom in 1961, British lawyer Peter Benenson published an article, The Forgotten Prisoners in the Observer newspaper. That article launched the Appeal for Amnesty 1961, a worldwide campaign that provoked a remarkable response (About Amnesty 1). Today, they celebrate over fifty years

Cauzillo 25

fighting for human rights and the voices of the unheard. Amnesty International has more than three million supporters and members and activists in over 150 countries. Options of donation and action opportunities incorporate average citizens of the world to help from their homes. They total 557, 216 actions taken by people just sitting at home on a computer (Activism Center 1). This sort of support and awareness is the major force against the wicked governments and their prisons. A second ideal organization against political prisoners is Human Rights Watch. Their mission statement speaks for the justice they bring: We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold abusers accountable. We challenge governments and those who hold power to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law. We enlist the public and the international community to support the cause of human rights for all (Defending Human Rights). Human Rights Watch similarly has a multitude of take action opportunities and donation options. Also, Human Rights Watch has numerous online petitions that citizens of the globe can sign right from home, such as the petition for the "Behind Bars in Burma" campaign (Get Involved). The United States, North Korea, and Burma possess some of the greatest weapons against human life and human rights in the modern world. Their political prison camps are a horrific waste of human life. The reasons or evidence for sentencing these prisoners are corrupt; the treatment and conditions they must endure are horrendously deplorable. It is obligatory that awareness is brought to these prisons along with the much needed aid. But above all, it is essential that organizations and neighboring countries come together, apply the needed pressure, and shut these prisons down for good. Preserve human life.

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