Nyunt Maung

11) Nyunt Maung (English)

DOB/Age: 38 years old (as at Aug 09)

From: Kyauk Taw Township in Rakhine (Arakan) State

Can be Emailed at:

to be advised later @hotmail.com
(usually is: klong_prem@hotmail.com – but it keeps bouncing, it must be restricted, needs to be clarified with the prison or prisoner)

Subject: Nyunt Maung - Klong Prem Building 4.
(this information is important or he won't receive email please read more…)
Emailing a Prisoner Update - Please refer to this document for headers and for Burmese Script.

Can be Contacted at:

Nyunt Maung
Klong Prem Prison
Building # 4
33/2 Ngam Wong Wan Road
Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand

For Financial Support please email any of the volunteers

SHORT STORY ABOUT

Comes from a very poor family within a poor community. Being the eldest brother with 5 siblings. Due to the financial situation of the family none of them is prepared for the future.

He has been incarcerated since 2003 after being sentenced to 25 years fro a drug case. Has done 7 years and his future is hopeless because he has no friends nor relatives to meet and help him while staying in prison.

Updated: 26 August 2009

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Achai Burma

10) Achai Burma

DOB/Age: 20 August 1986

From: Karen State

Can be Emailed at:

bangkwang_bkprison@hotmail.com
Subject: ACHAI BURMA - Bangkwang Building 4.

(the subject is important or he won't receive email please read more…)
Emailing a Prisoner Update - Please refer to this document for headers and for Burmese Script.

Can be Contacted at:
Achai Burma
Bangkwang Central Prison
Building # 4
117 Nonthanburi Road
Nonthanburi 11000, Thailand

For Financial Support please email any of the volunteers

SHORT STORY ABOUT
At age 16 was forced recruited into the Burmese army as a porter.

I thought my life was over by then, I was very scared. We have always suffered under the military government since 1947 after Burma gained its independence.

Whilst in the army I was ill with malaria, the army threw me on the wayside of the road as an animal. I was in coma fortunately a peasant saw me and kindly helped me to survive.

I paid 4000bahts to a broker to bring me Bangkok when I was 18 years old. He found me a job in a crocodile farm. I was paid 3000bahts per month. Three months later I went to the broker to ask him for help as I wanted to send money to my parents. After I gave him 5000bahts he asked me to buy something at a supermarket, I followed him, and I did not know he had someone at the supermarket. There I was arrested by the police with a package with 1000 amphetamine tablets. The broker sold the drugs to the police’s partner and I was caught in the middle. As I denied the charges I was submitted to interrogation torture, my face was covered with a plastic bag, they beat; I also suffered the current of electric shocks. I went into coma many times; I had no choice but to sign whatever they asked me to sign as to stop the torture, this is why I am in prison on a 25years sentence. I have already done 5 years.

I fought my case in court but it was my word against the police therefore the judges sided with the police. My weakest points used against me were; no visa, no embassy to provide me support, no translator, I come from a poor country therefore I have no rights. I lost the case…

I’m in prison since 2003. I have no contact with my family also they do not know where I am. I do not know if I ever will see them again. Many things have happened in my life.

Fr Olivier visited me once a month and provided me support with basic stuff like toothpaste/brush, soaps, shampoos, etc. I am Prisoner No. 884 in his list. (Bloggler’s Note: Fr Olivier has retired last July’09 to this date we do not know who is taking over yet, “if” someone is taking over his job)

I would love to correspond with other people. I am interested in other countries’ cultures and languages.
With honesty I am open to tell the story of my life and my family.

I hope to have some visitors. Visiting days are Tuesday and Thursday, I’m very hungry for visitors.

If anyone would like to support me with some clothes I will be eternally thankful for the kindness.

My size in clothes is M. My shoe size is 39

It is very lonely in prison.

Updated: 26 August 2009

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Burmese Migrant worker sentenced to life in Thai prison

IMNA - On July 27th, a judge from the Lan Suan court sentenced a Burmese migrant worker to life in prison. The trail began in 2007 after the migrant worker was accused, with two other suspects, of murdering a father and his two daughters.

On February 17th, 2007, a Burmese family was assaulted and murdered in Lamae village in Lan Suan district. The father, a Burmese migrant worker, Nai Toi, was shot in front of his home, and his two daughters, 8 and 12 years old, were stabbed to death. Nai Toi’s wife, Daw Khine, was badly injured and sent to the Lamae village hospital. Nai Toi and his family had been working at the Lamae rubber plantation for 5 years.

The migrant worker sentenced to life, Nai Chai, 26 years-old, and two other workers, Nai Maug Thu, 23 years-old and Kyaw Thu Soe, 20 years-old, were working near the rubber plantation that employed Nai Toi and his family. The three were arrested on February 18th by the Chonphon police. They were accused of having committed the murders, and have been held at the Lamae police station since 2007. They are from Thanphyuzayar township in Mon state and had been working in Thailand without ID’s.

“The three Burmese migrant workers (Nai Chai, Mung Thu and Kyaw Thu Soe) families contacted us to help them petition the Lan Suan court,” said Tin Tun Aung, the secretary of migrant rights at the Federation of Trade Unions (FTUB). “There, we [FTUB] and the Law Council of Thailand [LCT], requested that the judges of the Lan Suan court review the case. If the legal team had not gotten involved in this case, the three Burmese migrant workers would possibly receive the death penalty.”

According to FTUB sources, all thee migrant workers were innocent of the crimes they are being accused of. The FTUB sources claim a local gang robbed and killed the three victims, and that the three men were badly beaten and toured by the police, so that they’d admit that they had killed the victims. However, Nai Toi wife, Daw Khine, stated in court that Nai Chai was involved in the case and killed her family. The Lamae police sent back Daw Khine back to Burma after her testimony before the court hearings were over.

“We requested that the court give compensation to Nai Maung Tun and Kyaw Thu Soe for their having lived in prison for 2 years, as Thai law states,” said Tin Tun Aung. “We also will try to request that the Lan Suan court review Nai Chai’s sentence of life in prison.”

According Nai Chai’s wife who is working in Thailand, her husband didn’t kill Nai Toi or his family. Her family and Nai Toi’s family had a very good relationship. She explained that her husband was drinking with his friend on the night Nai Toi was murdered. She also insisted there was no cause for the murder, “We were working at the Lamae village rubber plantation for 4 years, and we didn’t have conflict with anyone else.”

Posted by IMNA: Tue 28 Jul 2009

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Than Oo

(9) Than Oo (English)

DOB/Age: 20 March 1975

From: Yangon

Can be Emailed at:
bangkwang_bkprison@hotmail.com
Subject: Than Oo - Bangkwang Building 4.
(this information is important or he won't receive email please read more…)

Emailing a Prisoner Update - Please refer to this document for headers, for Burmese Script and no more than 15 lines including the header.

Can be Contacted at:

Than Oo
Bangkwang Central Prison
Building # 4
117 Nonthanburi Road
Nonthanburi 11000, Thailand

For Financial Support for the above please email any of the volunteers

SHORT STORY ABOUT

I was on my 2nd year at university on a physics degree; I was forced to drop out due to the family financial difficulties.

As I did not have any experience I joined the navy. I went to Taiwan for few years.

In 1999 I returned from Taiwan, by then I was living in Thailand. Life was good but I got myself into a situation with a person forcing me to move to Tachilake (border between Thai and Burma) where I lived for about 1½ years.

My nightmare started in March 2002 when I returned to Thailand from Tachilake, as I owned monies I was talked into illegal activities to pay my debt.

Life is a best book for me, I admit my lack of reliability as I was 27 years old, old enough to know right and wrong. It has affected my family and my life as I was sentenced to 43 years in prison in 2003.

I am thankful to my parents they provided me with an education as many other Burmese prisoners in my situation are less privileged. Now I am helping some of them to learn to read and write.

I have three sisters in Yangon they cut ties with me. I have no visitors; the only one is Father Olivier-Morin who calls me once a month.

I welcome any contact with the outside world.

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Min Naing

(8) Min Naing (Burmese Only)

DOB/Age: 9 December 1976

From: Kyaing Toon Township, Shan State

Can be Emailed at:
bangkwang_bkprison@hotmail.com
Subject: Min Naing - Bangkwang Building 3.
(this information is important or he won't receive email please read more…)

Emailing a Prisoner Update - Please refer to this document for headers, for Burmese Script and no more than 15 lines including the header.

Can be Contacted at:

Min Naing
Bangkwang Central Prison
Building # 3
117 Nonthanburi Road
Nonthanburi 11000, Thailand

For Financial Support for the above please email any of the volunteers

SHORT STORY ABOUT

Sentence: Life for (100,000 pills (ATS)

I was born in Kyaing Toon townships, Shan State, Eastern Burma.

I have five brothers and I am the forth. My father passed away when I was a child.

After I finished high school I left home towards the Thai border hoping for a better life. At that time my mother retired from work, she was a government accountant and her pension was not enough to support the family.

I got a job driving in a small town (Tachilake) at the northern Thai border near the golden triangle. Two years later I fell in love with a local girl later getting married.

Early in 2003 I was offered a job for good money, it was to guard the store room for the drugs in Bangkok. I left my wife and came to Bangkok. Three (3) months after I started work I was arrested with (100,000 pills (ATS)) together with other friends on 9 September 2003.

After being imprisoned my wife cut ties with me, she has a new partner now.

The first court charged me with dead penalty. The second court after two years downgraded the sentence to life in prison.

In 2007 I received bad news that my mum passed away. I was very sad as my dream to see her again never eventuated.

Now my case is in the Supreme court, I hope and await for freedom to enjoy the rest of my life.

Updated: 28 July 2009

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Maung Tun Win

(7) Maung Tun Win (English)

DOB/Age: 1975

From: Sittwe Township, Arakan State

Can be Emailed at:
bangkwang_bkprison@hotmail.com
Subject: Maung Tun Win - Bangkwang Building 4.
(this information is important or he won't receive email please read more…)

Emailing a Prisoner Update - Please refer to this document for headers, for Burmese Script and no more than 15 lines including the header.

Can be Contacted at:

Maung Tun Win
Bangkwang Central Prison
Building # 4
117 Nonthanburi Road
Nonthanburi 11000, Thailand

For Financial Support for the above please email any of the volunteers

SHORT STORY ABOUT

Sentence: 25 years for (ATS) 800 pills

I joined the Burmese army when I was 22 years old.

After 7 years in the army fighting many battles along the Burmese border I realized what I was doing and I decide quit to fight for what and who I choose to.

I disliked to kill my own people making me physically ill. Due to health reasons I retired from the army and I left Burma to the Thai border.

Unfortunately, I met my friends at the border. Traveling towards Bangkok we became illegal migrants.

On the way to Bangkok Thai police surprised us to check the bus we were in. The police found 800 pills in my friend’s pocket. That made me accessory to the crime. I was shocked by the findings of the police as I did not know my friend was carrying drugs with him. The police arrested the three of us the rest is history.

The first court sentenced me to 25 years. Now I am waiting for the Appeal court. I don’t know how the Judge will sentence me on the second court.

I have spent 3 years in prison to this date (as at 28Jul’09).

Sometimes I have correspondence with my family. They are living on the western side of Burma they are not in a position to help me. I have no visitors.

LIKES:

Burmese Politics and
I am quite interested to know about Barrack Obama, the 44th President of the USA

Wants to know about education and economics systems in other international countries, as well as the environmental studies and eco system control.

Loves to have communications either English or Burmese language.

The bookworm:
There is also some online library which is called www.books.live.com where you can download the ebooks ea$ily and then read. ( http://www.ebooks.com/ this is link is the one this blogger got close to it)

If someone can explain all these things to me, then I will be very grateful.

Thank you very much for giving me a good chance.

Updates:
28 July 2009
26 August 2009

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Malaysia urged to stop caning immigrants

(news.com.au) Kuala Lumpur - Agence France-Presse

HUMAN rights watchdog Amnesty has urged Malaysia to abolish caning, saying that tens of thousands of migrants have received the "inhuman and degrading" punishment in recent years.

Amnesty cited a statement in Malaysian parliament last week that said local authorities had caned at least 34,923 migrants between 2002 and 2008, 60 per cent of them from neighbouring Indonesia.

"Amnesty International urges the Malaysian government to rid the country of this cruel punishment," the London-based group said.

"Whipping someone with a cane is cruel, inhuman and degrading, and international standards make clear that such treatment constitutes torture."

Apart from Indonesians, those caned were also from Bangladesh, India, Burma, Nepal, the Philippines and Thailand.

Malaysia, Southeast Asia's third largest economy, has 2.2 million migrant workers in Malaysia, who are the mainstay of the plantation and manufacturing sectors.

The caning sentence was added to Malaysian immigration laws since 2002, amid concern over the ramifications of having a large migrant workforce. Under the laws, those staying in Malaysia illegally are subject to a mandatory whipping of up to six strokes of the cane, fines and up to five years in jail.

Caning is also carried out for serious offences including rape and drug trafficking.

"The practice is humiliating, and causes such pain that people have reportedly fainted. Those caned often carry scars, psychological as well as physical, for years," Amnesty said.

Read More...

Burmese Injured in Malaysian Camp Riots

By LAWI WENG
The Irrawaddy News

Eight Burmese detainees were wounded after a small riot broke out at the Semenyih Immigration camp near Kajang Township, in Malaysia on Wednesday.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Aung Lwin Oo, one of the detainees involved in the riot at the camp, said the trouble started at 8pm after camp authorities beat 30 detainees who were refusing to board a truck that was to take them to another camp.

The detainees began breaking up the walls of their rooms and throwing plates at security officers, demanding prison authorities release the 30 people who had been loaded onto the truck.

The police used tear gas to break up the riot.

“We are very angry after we heard they had beaten and forced fellow prisoners to get on a truck and be moved another camp. When they came for them they said it was only to meet officials from the UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees],” he said.

Aung Lwin Oo was in hiding as he talked to The Irrawaddy by phone from the camp. Camp authorities ban the use of mobile phones.

“On Tuesday, two Burmese detainees were also seriously beaten when they went to the clinic to ask for medicine. One detainee was beaten around the eyes,” Lwin Oo reported.

“We don’t know if he will regain his vision because his eyes are filled with blood. At the moment he can’t see,” he said. “The other detainee suffered cigarette burns on his body and is in serious condition now.”

Yante Ismail, a spokesperson for the UNHCR based in Kuala Lumpur told The Irrawaddy, Thursday, that a group from UNHCR left for the camp that morning to investigate the riot.

She said that she was unable to provide any further details on what happened at the camp.

The Malaysian National News Agency announced on their Bernama website that no one was injured during the riot and that the situation was under control.

According to Burmese rights groups in Malaysia, there are about 700 Burmese detainees at the Semenyih Immigration camp. They are accusing camp authorities of keeping people who have already served sentences in detention.

Roi Mon, a member of the Mon Refugees Organization based in Malaysia, said that inmates do not have enough food and water, and the camp is crowded because the authorities have refused to release detainees.

Meanwhile, in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report 2009 released in June, the US State Department put Malaysia back on the Tier 3 blacklist for its record of abuse and exploitation of migrant workers. Malaysia joins 16 other countries including Burma, North Korea, Sudan and Zimbabwe on the blacklist.

The report accused Malaysia authorities of deporting Burmese detainees to the Thai-Malaysia border and selling them to human traffickers, who then demanded ransoms for their release.

If payments were not made, the victims would be forced to work as slave labor on fishing boats in Thailand and Indonesia, and women could be forced to work as prostitutes in brothels.

Malaysian authorities have disputed the report’s conclusions.

According to the Kuala Lumpur-based Burma Workers’ Rights Protection Committee, about 500,000 Burmese migrants work in Malaysia, legally and illegally.

Read More...

happy birthday Aunty Suu Kyi

By Tun Hein© 11 June'09

Watercolours
56cm x 38cm (22"x15")

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Kyi – from Karen

6) Kyi

DOB/Age: 1 December
38 years old (as at 2008)
Buddhist

From: Kyar In Sape Gyi Township - Karen

Can be Emailed at:

bangkwang_bkprison@hotmail.com
Subject: Kyi- Bangkwang Building 6.
(this information is important or he won't receive email please read more…)

Emailing a Prisoner Update - Please refer to this document for headers and for Burmese Script.

Can be Contacted at:

Kyi
Bangkwang Central Prison
Building # 6
117 Nonthanburi Road
Nonthanburi 11000, Thailand

For Financial Support for the above please email any of the volunteers

SHORT STORY ABOUT

Kyi was sentenced to life in prison for Heroin and ATS.

I was born in a far country side village. My family are farmers and I had three brothers and a sister. I am the eldest big brother.

I never attended school, at the age of 10 years old I was sent to become a Buddhist novice where I started to study the Buddhist Bible at the village’s monastery.

At the age of 13 years old I moved to a monastery in Moulmein city and continued to learn the Bible. After 2 years I moved again to Irrawaddy division and completed first standard Bible.

In 1988, the whole country demonstrated for democracy (8888) then I left Burma and went across the border to a monastery in Kaianiburi province in Thailand.

I left the novice and returned home in 1990. A year later I went to Yangon and I learned about car repairs, there I worked in a small garage for another two years. At the age of 22 years old I had to become a monk and I turned back to Thailand again. I left the monkhood and worked in a Thai factory for 5 years.

I drove local buses along the Thai border and I owned a second hand car and a motorcycle brokerage in 5 July 2004. I will never forget this day.

My friend appointed me and paid for the car charges. I went to a meeting place where I was caught by the police and told me that the money my friend paid was for drugs that they had caught from somebody. I went into depression at the police station and attempted suicide twice.

The police sent me to a police hospital, I stayed in hospital for 2 weeks from there they sent me to prison.

Two years later the court sentenced me to life in prison. After the sentence my girlfriend never came back to me.

I have not given any thought about King’s pardon yet.

Now I am studying Thai and English. I want to be a successful businessman.

I hope when I am released in 3 years I will be successful. I want to be a good head for my family.

If you lack money your family life is less smooth and less happy, like everybody else I want to be rich if I have a chance. I want to be a good man. But my life sentence makes me less happy as I do not know if I ever would be released.

I wasted my young life in prison. Every day I ask Buddha that every next life I do not want to meet with a judge again and I wish fore everybody who read my story do not face trouble like me.

Now I have none to visit me, I have no one to write me a letter and I cannot connect with my family as they are far away from town.

Thank you.

Updated: 20 May 2009

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Myo Tun - Irrawaddy

5) Myo Tun (Little English likes someone to practice)

Nickname: Jack

DOB/Age: 21 October
32 years old (as at 2008)
Christian

From: Irrawaddy Division

Can be Emailed at:

bangkwang_bkprison@hotmail.com
Subject: Myo Tun - Bangkwang Building 4
(this information is important or he won't receive email please read more…)

Emailing a Prisoner Update - Please refer to this document for headers and for Burmese Script.

Can be Contacted at:

Myo Tun
Bangkwang Central Prison
Building # 4
117 Nonthanburi Road
Nonthanburi 11000, Thailand

For Financial Support please email any of the volunteers

SHORT STORY ABOUT

I was born in a small town at Irrawaddy Divison. From a Muslim father and Buddhist mother.
I grew up around the Muslim family. My father and mother divorced when I was 10 years old.

I did not study high school as my family is very poor. I finished primary school only. At the age of 16 years old I looked for my mother and followed her to Thachilake in the Shan State at the Thailand border. She remarried so I found a job on the bridge borderline point. I sold cigarettes and souvenirs and things like that.

Early in 1997 I met a new friend from Bangkok, he brought me to a big city where I performed many jobs like wiring, waiter, carpenter etc.

On 1999 my friend brought me to Bangkok and asked me to become a drug courier. I delivered ATS pills to the customers and received the money which I sent to the boss.

I married in 2001 to a Thai girl who lives in Bangkok.

In 2002 a customer asked me for drug charges, when I went to a meeting point the police was waiting for me. I was bit and I endured electric shocks on my body over two days of interrogation. The police asked me “where my safe room of drugs was” as I could not resist more pain I told them where the room was, the police found 2,800 ATS.

The day the police caught me, my daughter was born. During the first two or three months my wife came to visit me, then she stopped and never returned.

After two years in prison the court sentenced me to 51 years.
I requested a second court where my sentence was reduced to 46 years.

Now my daughter is 7 years old, my wife sent me a photo of my daughter but she/they has not come to see me.

I like playing the guitar when I am free, I play the guitar every Sunday when I go to church.

I do not know why my family has never contacted me.

If I am blessed I would like to return home and die in Burma like every Burmese.
I will request the King’s Pardon as soon as my documents are ready.

Thank you.

Updated: 20 May 2009

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Mae La - Karen

4) Mae La - Karen (Burmese)

DOB/Age:
60 years old (as at 2008)
Buddhist

From:
Hlaing Poi Township – Karen

Can be Emailed at:

bangkwang_bkprison@hotmail.com
Subject: Mae La - Bangkwang Building 6.
(this information is important or he won't receive email please read more…)

Emailing a Prisoner Update - Please refer to this document for headers and for Burmese Script.

Can be Contacted at:

Mae La
Bangkwang Central Prison
Building # 6
117 Nonthanburi Road
Nonthanburi 11000, Thailand

For Financial Support for the above please email any of the volunteers

SHORT STORY ABOUT

Mae La was sentenced to 25 years for a drug case (ATS) in 2003.

My schooling went as far to middle schooling in my village far away from the Township.
At the age of 16 years old I left school to help the family working the paddy fields.

My family are poor farmers and after I turned 18 years old my friends persuaded me to join the Karen Rebels and I left my home in 1968 to join the Karen national Union (KNU) near the Thai border.

I did not know anything about the political situation in Burma. I married whilst in the jungle in 1969. I have five children during my guerrilla life. The revolution was not helping me nor my family to progress. After 27 years the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) ceasefire merged with the Burmese army. Together with my family we returned home after the ceasefire.

Once at home at my village we farmed the land to survive. In 2003 I visited my daughter who worked in Maesot at the Thailand border, but I could not meet her. I found myself without money to return home to my village which is about 100km away from the border.

I went to a friend and asked him for some money (10900 Kyats (US$7)) to cover the bus fare. In return my friend asked me to help him with some work. He ordered me to take a packet to his Thai friend, I did not know the contents of the package. His friend was a Thai police informer and I was caught. After the packet was opened 10,000 (ATS) were inside. I was shocked.

The first court charge was life sentence.
The second court charge was reduced to 25 years.
I have already done 6 years in prison and I am working for a garment factory in my building. This job only provides me enough to survive.

My whole life is simple, my knowledge is limited. I tell myself that once I am released from prison I will be a monk as I need a peaceful life and make my dream come true.

My families are very poor and they can not afford to visit me nor support me.
I thank you very much that you gave me this change.

Updated: 20 May 2009

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Emailing a Prisoner - Updated 20 May 2009

Random Censorship

We are very fortunate to have this email system for our BPA prisoners, it helps a lot both ends, using the emailing system must also be courteous as all correspondence goes through censorship.

EMAILING

For writing or emailing in English there is not much to tell except for the "Subject" of the email to be sent out (quick pick below please). But for the ones who depend on Burmese script then we have to make things easier for us and for the officers receiving your email ,after all we want our emails delivered efficiently and pronto.

Burmese Script printing can only be handled on both computers; the sender's and the receiver's, only if the language script is downloaded into the pc system [fonts] of both computers. The Myanmar font is very peculiar and in its absence it turns itself into a bunch of squares or undecipherable letters.

Your Penpal Can be Emailed at:

bangkwang_bkprison@hotmail.com
Subject: Prisoners Name known by the prison - Bangkwang Building 9
(this information on the subject is important to avoid discards)

Please note:
* A maximum of 15 rows/lines of text are allowed per email, avoid temptation it goes against the prisoner and your email will go into limbo.

* Also note that emails are delivered to the inmate not necessarily on the same day and viceverse.

* There are also restrictions on the message bulk received by the prisoner.

* Graphics are erased or blackout.

* Date your message, samples below.

Email Header Sample for English or any other language

(Remember you only have 15 lines as a maximum, including your signature)
Type directly, to save yourself a line date the message next to the name because when the officers receive the message they tend to cut the dates.. if you date it inside the body you are forcing it to go through, although it could be blacked out…

Header2

Header created as a graphic for Burmese or any other type of scripts

The whole message must not exceed a page. Please note that we only cater for Burmese script as that is the only script we know. The Graphic must carry as part of the picture the addresses, see picture please.

Header1

SUGGESTION for emailing script

* The only way to retain the font for the script is by converting it into a picture, jpg, gif or NPG formats - make graphics small please graphics under 400kb are ideal anything bigger will bounce easily, and if it doesn't bounce back to you, eventually you will find out what happened to your message.

* Type your message in script and make a picture of it as Header1 above...or

* Handwrite your message on a piece of paper not larger than A4 (normal piece), scan and create a picture of the message, this piece of paper must carry the a) name of the prisoner, b) the location and c) building number. make sure your handwriting is clear please.

* Use black pen as it helps to a nice darker scanning. The boys use felt pen, I had to give them credit, they got the time to think of everything.

* Attach the picture created to your email message, this way the font will be retained as the prison computers only support Thai scripts. Burmese font is different to Thai script and is converted into square or a series of illegible letters.

* Do not rely on the efficiency of your pc, make sure You can read your message in order to send it. I have received messages that cannot be read and I had to wait another month for a letter repeating the unreadable email. Thai computers are a bit slower to ours.

Sample of email message containing a graphic-message

* Your message can be typed with Paint [From your Start, select programs, accessories, paint]
otherwise, we will be happy to send your script-message for you...just email us your script and we will be happy to do the rest.

* Please add the prison email address to your safe sites as to avoid the email from the prison arriving into your Bulk/Spam tray.

* The prisoner is allowed ONE email per week only.

* Use email wisely please as one of our boys email was restricted and he lost all the email sent to him.

* There used to be a time when the prisoner could receive unlimited email at Bangkwang, unfortunately that is not the case at the moment (20 May 2009), always check with the prisoner what you can send as rules and regulations change frequently.

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BDR hands over 68 Burmese citizens to Nasaka

Teknaf, Bangladesh (KPN): Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) handed over 68 Burmese citizens to the Burmese authority (Burmese border security force, or Nasaka), yesterday afternoon at the high level flag meeting between the BDR and Nasaka, held at a rest house of border town Teknaf, Bangladesh, according to our correspondent.

Lt. Colonel Abdul Kheleque, Commanding Officer,42 BDR Battalion, Teknaf, led the five-member team, while U Myint Khine, Deputy Director of Nasaka Headquarters, Maungdaw, led the six member Burmese delegation to the flag meeting, he said.

After the meeting, BDR handed over 68 Burmese prisoners, including two women and three army personnel to the Nasaka Deputy Director, he added.

The prisoners were arrested by BDR and the Bangladesh Police in different places such as Teknaf, Ukhiya of Cox’s Bazaar district and Nikkongchari of Banderban hill district for illegally entering Bangladesh, a few years ago, BDR officials said.

The BDR officials also said that the three army personnel had been arrested with their firearms, when they were trying to abduct four Bangladeshis from Gungdoum of Nikkongchari.

On the other side of the border, Sakdala , situated near pillar number 42, Rayzu Para , situated near pillar number 46 -47 and Laymoosawri, near pillar number 50 -51, also witnessed a company commander or field commander level flag meeting, yesterday. In the meetings they discussed about the fencing program, which the Bangladeshi authority had protested against. They had asked their Burmese counterparts not to erect any embankment, within 150 yards from the zero point, according to officials.

In these meetings, Banduhla and Aung Thapary commander led the Burmese side, while Sakdala, Rayzu and Laymoosawri Company Commander joined in the meeting.

When asked a Rohingya politician from Maungdaw said, there may be some policy behind this unexpected handing over of prisoners by Bangladesh, as the Burmese authorities always refused to accept prisoners from Bangladeshi jails.

“Maybe, the Burmese authority wants to show that they want to cooperate with the Bangladeshi authority after tension escalated due to the fencing, offshore oil and other army reinforcement on the border, or maybe for three army personnel they accepted the other prisoners,” he added.

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Burma to accept Bangladesh prisoners

(DVB)–Burma has agreed to take back 68 Burmese nationals who have been imprisoned in Bangladesh following a meeting between the Burmese government and a Bangladeshi paramilitary border force.

Officials from Burma’s Department of Border Trade and Bangladesh’s paramilitary border control, the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), met yesterday in Cox’s Bazar district on the Bangladesh side of the border.

Bangladesh is now set to release 68 Burmese nationals, 65 civilians of which are and three of which are army deserters. The army deserters were detained by BDR troops in Bandarban, near the border, on 20 March this year.

A total of 133 Burmese nationals are due to be released from Bangladeshi prisons, although the Burmese junta are reluctant to accept them all.

Three other meetings between Burmese army officials BDR officials were held in Bandarban yesterday, during which Burmese officials made a promised to move the planned construction of the border fence 150 yards further inside Burma.

Bangladesh has voiced concern that the planned border fence, aimed at stemming the flow of illegal migrants into Burma, ran too close to the border.

Reporting by DVB

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Pauk's Birthday in early May

Would you like to send him a card or an email?

Can be Emailed to:
bangkwang_bkprison@hotmail.com
Subject: Pongsak Saeung - Bangkwang Building 6
(remember the subject is very important in order to have your message delivered to him)

Or post a card to:
Pongsak Saeung
Bangkwang Central Prison
Building # 6
117 Nonthanburi Road
Nonthanburi 11000
Thailand

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Self-exiled Aussie dies in Bangkok

What is left to return to?...

Lindsay Murdoch and Jim Pollard
SMH - April 23, 2009 - 7:48AM

A Melbourne man who preferred to live in a crowded Bangkok immigration cell rather than return to Australia has died.

Colin Hansch, 61, told Thai authorities he would rather stay in jail than return to Australia, even though he only slept on a mat and received a small serve of rice and soup each day.

"I've not been back to Australia for 30 years. I don't want to go back. I've got nothing to go back to," Mr Hansch said last year.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed Mr Hansch's death in a police hospital in Bangkok.

The spokesman declined to reveal the cause of death.

People who visited him in the detention centre say he probably died from an overdose of prescription medicine.

Mr Hansch, a computer engineer who left Australia decades ago, refused offers by the Australian embassy in Bangkok to issue him a limited Australian travel document to allow him to return to Australia.

It is believed he wanted a passport so he could again leave Australia.

Mr Hansch had been detained at the Immigration Centre in Bangkok, near the Australian embassy, since September 2004.

He was transferred there, supposedly pending deportation, after serving two years in a Bangkok jail for assault causing bodily harm that related to a dispute with a bar girl in the tourist resort city of Pattaya.

There are about 25 Australians among thousands of foreigners being held in Thai jails, most of them for drug related offences.

Nicholas Zemlianski, another elderly prisoner from Melbourne, is believed to be unwell in a prison hospital in Bangkok.

Australia has an agreement with Thailand that allows prisoners there to be transferred to Australian jails but the process is intensely bureaucratic and there have been only a handful of exchanges.

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အက်ဥ္းသမားမ်ား ထိုင္းဘုရင္ထံ လြတ္ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းသာခြင့္ ေတာင္းခံျခင္း

ထိုင္းႏိုင္ငံအက်ဥ္းေထာင္ထဲက ႏွစ္ရွည္အက်ဥ္းသမားေတြဟာ တစ္ႏွစ္တစ္ခါ ထိုင္းဘုရင္ဆီကို လြတ္ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းသာခြင့္ ေတာင္းခံၾကပါတယ္။ အမႈနဲ႔ျပစ္ဒဏ္ေပၚမူတည္ၿပီး ဆံုးျဖတ္တာျဖစ္လို႔ အဲဒီလုပ္ငန္းစဥ္ဟာ အလြန္ၾကာျမင့္တတ္ပါတယ္။ ဘယ္လိုကိုင္တြယ္ရမလဲဆိုတာသိတဲ့ အေတြ႕အႀကံဳရွိေရွ႕ေနေတြက ေလွ်ာက္လႊာျဖည္႕ေပးဖို႕ လိုအပ္ပါတယ္။ မိသားစုနဲ႕သူငယ္ခ်င္းေတြရဲ႕ ဝိုင္းဝန္းေတာင္းဆိုမႈဟာလည္း အလြန္အေရးႀကီးပါတယ္။ ထိုင္းဘုရင္နဲ႕အျပန္အလွန္ေျပာဆိုႏိုင္တဲ့ ဘာသာစကားကၽြမ္းက်င္သူေတြလည္း လိုအပ္ပါတယ္။ ဒီလုပ္ငန္းစဥ္ေတြအားလုံးဟာ အေရးတႀကီးေထာက္ခံမႈေတြ လိုအပ္ပါတယ္။ ဒီအက်ဥ္းသားေတြဟာ သူတို႕ထိုက္နဲ႕သူတို႕ကံဆိုၿပီး အပစ္ခံထားရတာၾကာပါၿပီ။ ဒီတစ္ခါေတာ ့ဘုရင့္ဆီအသနားခံစာတင္သြင္းဖို႕ အားလံုးရဲ႕ေထာက္ခံမႈနဲ႕အကူအညီကို လိုအပ္ေနၾကပါတယ္။ ဒီလုပ္ငန္းစဥ္တစ္ခုလံုးနဲ႕အကၽြမ္းတဝင္ရွိၿပီး ကူညီခ်င္သူအားလံုးကို ႀကိဳဆိုပါတယ္။ ဘုရင့္ဆီကိုသူတို႕ကိုယ္စား လြတ္ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းသာခြင့္တင္သြင္းဖို႕ အႀကံေကာင္းဥာဏ္ေကာင္းေတြလည္း လိုအပ္ေနပါတယ္။

Click here for English Version

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Rogue Agent betrayed Burmese rebels - India

By Salai Pi Pi
Wednesday, 11 February 2009 23:08

New Delhi (Mizzima)- India's leading Human Rights lawyer Nandita Haksar said there are more political motives than legal reasons for India to have detained 34 Burmese rebels, who are currently lodged in Kolkata's Presidency jail. They have been in Indian jails for the past 11 years.

Haksar, who have been advocating the case of the Burmese rebels, said, "I have tried to explore the politics of this case, I don't think that they are in jail for legal reasons but for political reasons."

Haksar's comment came in a form of a book, titled 'Rogue Agent', which details the case of the 34 Burmese rebels and the politics behind their arrest and accusations of India's betrayal to the rebels.

Speaking after the formal release of her book by Burmese exiled Member of Parliament, Dr. Tint Swe, Haksar said an Indian military intelligence officer had played a vital role in betraying the Burmese rebels, who were arrested by Indian authorities in February 11, 1998 at Landfall Island of the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

"It is India's military intelligence officer, who betrayed the Burmese freedom fighters," said Haksar adding that the rebels on Wednesday completed 11 years in detention without proper trial.

Gathered at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar Park near the Parliament, at least a hundred Burmese pro-democracy activists on Wednesday staged a protest demanding India provide a fair trial to the Burmese rebels and release them immediately.

Leech Operation
The rebels, belonging to Burma's Arakan and Karen ethnics, said they were betrayed by Indian Military Intelligence, who promised them a base at Landfall Island in Andaman and Nicobar.

According to the rebels, six of their key leaders were killed brutally by Indian Military Intelligence upon arriving at the landfall and the rest were arrested.

The Indian defence ministry later claimed that a huge consignment of arms and ammunition were seized during a joint operation codenamed 'Operation Leech' and charged the rebels with gun running.

The rebels were then kept at Port Blair without trial for eight years. But later in 2006 October, the Supreme Court of India, after the rebels' petition, ordered the rebels to be transferred to Kolkata and to conduct a day-to-day trial.

The Rogue Agent
Haksar, who has tirelessly followed the case of the 34 rebels, in her book – 'Rogue Agent' – reveals that an Indian Military Intelligence officer named Lt. Col V.S. Grewal as the man masterminding the plot to betray the Burmese rebels.

According to her Grewal had negotiated with the rebels, mainly the Arakanese resistant group, to allow them a base in an Island in Andaman and Nicobar Islands in return for monitoring Chinese naval bases in Coco Island.

But Grewal, who also had good relationship with the Burmese military regime, betrayed the rebels on their arrival at the Landfall Island and killed six of their leaders in cold blood and arrested the others.

According to the book, Lt. Col V. S Grewal, who is a resident of Chandigarh, is being spotted in Rangoon and is enjoying the military government's favour after the operation against the rebels.

Haksar, however, said with the Indian military establishment turning down requests to allow access to Grewal, he cannot be working alone in his plot to betray the Burmese rebels.

"If Grewal had been working alone why would the Indian Army want to protect him? Would it not be better to hand him over and put the blame on one rogue agent rather than get into this long-drawn controversy?" Haksar asked in her book.

Haksar in her book also details how India had switched its stand on Burma and abandoned its support to Burmese pro-democracy movement under its claimed 'National Interest'.

The Rebels
The 34 Burmese rebels, who are now on a trial in a court in Kolkata, reportedly went into a hunger strike on Wednesday to protest against 11 years of detention.

The trial, according to one of their lawyers Akshay Kumar Sharma, is nearing a close as the prosecution has several times failed to produce key witnesses as demanded by the court.

But with their case drawing to a close, the lawyer said the rebels will need a refugee status from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or will likely be continued to be detained or face deportat

Publish Post

ion to Burma under India's Foreigners Act.

Earlier the Czech Republic and East Timor has in principle agreed to accept them in their country but that would still require the UNHCR's recommendation.

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OLAT 77 Newsletter 2008 Overview - Ex-Angel of Bangkwang

OLAT 77 Newsletter 2008 Overview

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Other Periodicals & Report burmese Thailand

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Royal Pardon process - Urgent request

Once a year prisoners with 'long stay' in Thailand prisons submit their petitions to the King requesting His Royal Highness pardon.

This is a long process and very legal as it involves summaries of the case and the sentence.

The forms are required to be filled by solicitors who know how to deliver the proper communication on the documentation.

Personal Petitions from friends, family and concerned public must be submitted following the Royal protocol as in "the way Royalty express themselves" in the language of the country.

Translators are required who are specialised in the field of language spoken by the King.

All these processes require urgent support. As we have already mentioned these prisoners have been left to their fate in those jails and I kindly would like to ask for your support towards the legalities the King's Pardon Submissions required.

Assistance from anybody who knows about this process is welcomed. Ideas on how to make the personal petitions to the King on behalf of the prisoners are welcomed.

I thought that perhaps creating an online petition and collecting the signatures and addresses of the personal petitioners would save on translations as it would be only one letter to be translated. The signatures with the other details will only be recorded.

Sensitive information can only go direct to the prisoner or via email to one of the supporters of this blog.

Please feel free to ask for more information about supporting BPA in Thailand.

Read Burmese Version Here Please

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Bangladesh to release 20 more foreign prisoners

Narinjara News

Bangladesh plans to release more than 20 foreign prisoners shortly. Six foreign prisoners were freed last month, said a report.

Six foreign prisoners – four Burmese, one North Korean and one Tanzanian were released last one month after their jail term of more than 15 years came to an end.

The six prisoners were accepted by relatives and lawyers who agreed to provide them shelter in Bangladesh.

According to a prison source, in Bangladesh there are 878 foreign prisoners from 11 countries. Among them, 286 foreign nationals' jail terms expired long ago. The jail term of 30 prisoners expired 15 years ago while 80 others completed their jail term five years ago.

Sources said of the foreign prisoners, 515 are Burmese, 330 are Indians, 12 are Pakistanis, seven are Nepalese, five are Tanzanians, two are Kenyans, three are Malaysians and one each are from Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Liberia and Hungary.

In Cox's Bazaar prison, there are 105 Burmese prisoners who have been released and are waiting to return to Burma since 2006 but the Burmese authorities are refusing to accept them.

The concerned Bangladesh authorities could not collect information about the foreign prisoners – mostly Indians and Burmese, who do not have any passports, the source said.

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Released Burmese prisoners languish in Bangladesh prison

Narinjara News
January 1, 2009

Cox's bazar: Burmese prisoners accounting for 105 people, though released have been languishing in Bangladesh prison since 2006 because the Burmese military government refuses to recognize them as Burmese citizens.

According to a prison report, 105 released Burmese prisoners were brought to Cox's Bazaar prison located near Burma's western border, from several prisons around Bangladesh in 2006 to be handed over to Burma.

However, the released Burmese prisoners could not be sent to Burma from Bangladesh as the Burmese authorities refused to accept them.

An immigration official Abu Kalan from Cox's Bazaar said that Burmese authorities told them whenever they request their transfer to Burma that they could not check whether the prisoners in Bangladesh are Burmese nationals or not.

According to prison sources, the Bangladesh government is not willing to keep the released Burmese prisoners in Bangladeshi prison anymore as the authorities have to spend additional funds for them.

At the same time, accommodation for Burmese prisoners is also another problem for Bangladesh because there are many prisoners staying in prison though there is not enough adequate accommodation in the prison.

In Cox's Bazaar prison, there are nearly 400 Burmese citizens and most of them are detained by Bangladesh authorities for illegally entering Bangladesh territory.

It is learnt that there are 1500 Burmese nationals in Bangladesh prison and the numbers have increased in recent years.

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Season's Greetings from Somboon Jamburee

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Season's Greetings from Htun Hein

To: Jeg and All involved

Greeting
Translated by JMoe

I reply with respects – I praise you all in good health and prosperous.
I have received the card on the 11 Dec, 2008. Thank you I was so glad to receive it.

I came to know from SOE PAING that, you have setup a website for prisoners; I am so glad to hear special news.

My name is HTUN HEIN one of the ARIKHINE ethnic, age 33 years old. I was sentenced to death for drug traffic acts; I've been living here in prison over seven years now. I've to serve another forty years more to go.

For the past seven years I lived in prison nobody visited, remits and no parcel except father OLIVER until today.

No one in my family or friends can support me financially. Occasionally, I can communicate by letter with them.

Presently, I am earning by washing other prisoners clothes little money to cover some of my daily expenses….

As for me, I can not write English fluently like others. I don't have contact from other source of foreigners or any organization.

Now I'm so special to communicate with you in written Burmese, that's made me so happy and I am amazed with the thought.

I would like to thank to those who participate and help us. I wish you all to be festive and that everything is completed as you expect in year 2009. Kindly forgive me if I've mistaken.

HTUN HEIN (aka Tun Hein Arakan)
15 Dec, 2008

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