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Myanmar soldiers beat, slapped and beat a U.S. journalist and kept him in custody for more than a week, after being deported to the United States after three months in prison.
Nathan Maung, 44, a senior editor at Kamayut Media, was arrested on March 9 for assault and released on June 15. His colleague Hanthar Nyein, who is still in prison, was brutally tortured, as other people had met in prison, Maung said.
“He pushes his face, hands and shoulder all the time,” Myanmar-born Maung told CNN. “Every time he answered, he hit us. Everything we answered – whether right or wrong – hit us. For three days, do not stop. ”
A military spokesman did not respond to a request from Reuters to comment on the account with Maung, which is similar to some of the thousands more detained since the military overthrew the elected president. Aung San Suu Kyi in February.
The Myanmar military says prisoners are being held accountable for their actions, but while the military is trying to encourage the country to revolt, it says arrested journalists and began directing lawyers to protect political extremists.
The Myanmar military has retained the favor of the thousands who rebelled against the military in February and persecuted many, beatings and torture, according to a June 22 report by Human Rights Watch.
“The first three or four days were very difficult,” Maung told Reuters in a telephone interview in Virginia.
“I was beaten and slapped several times. No matter what I said, they just hit me. He used both his hands and hit my ears several times. He slapped me on the cheek on both sides. He slapped me on the shoulder. I was not allowed to stand. My legs were swollen. I can’t walk again, “he said.
Maung, who was born in Myanmar and fled to the US as a refugee in the 1990s, said he was arrested at the Kamayut Media office and taken to inquire about his publication, his work there and how it works.
“They tied my hands behind my back, blindfolded me with a cloth and covered me with another cloth,” he said.
“I was not allowed to sleep for three or four days. Non-stop questions. There was no time to sleep, ”he said. He also said the beatings subsided on the fourth day, after realizing he was a US citizen.
“On the eighth day, a senior officer came, took off my cloth and covered my eyes,” Maung said.
Some were “severely persecuted”
Maung met with US officials after his release and assisted him and his family, the US ambassador said.
It also expressed concern over the ongoing detention US journalist Danny Window, who was arrested more than a month ago and allowed to speak at the U.S. embassy for the first time last week, according to his Fenster brother.
Maung said the colonists had written their testimony and asked if they had anything to say – while the editor called for their human rights to be respected and for having a lawyer to protect him in any case.
The commanding officer told him he had not been convicted and would be released once the situation was settled, Maung said.
While in jail, Maung said he had met people who had been abused and heard people shouting, begging and screaming from other houses.
“Some people were more persecuted than we were. There was someone with me in the room for two days. Her body was bruised and injured. He put his handcuffs on the table and slapped her hand.
“The bones were not broken, but he was badly injured and had his skin torn.”
Kamayut Media stopped publishing after his arrest, but Maung said he wanted to resume his career.
The Assistance Association says more than 6,000 people have been prosecuted or detained since the state fines. The military has killed at least 883 people since then. The military opposes the figures.
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