“I’m an American”

Comments () | Published October 12, 2010

Nyi Nyi and Wa Wa thought they had left the hardest parts of their lives behind when they settled in the United States in the early 1990s. Burma—which borders India, China, and Thailand and was once part of Britain’s Indian empire—has one of the world’s worst human-rights records. The regime has imprisoned thousands for holding pro-democracy views and has beaten or killed countless others. While most Burmese people live in poverty, the military leaders who rule the country exploit its natural resources—including oil, natural gas, and copper—for their own financial gain.

As a teenager in Rangoon, Nyi Nyi became a leader of the student democracy movement. In 1988, he was arrested and jailed for a short time. He and 77 other demonstrators were crammed into a truck meant for 20 passengers and hauled to Insein Prison. Several suffocated and died during the ride.

Wa Wa also grew up in Rangoon. She wanted to be a doctor, but during her final year of medical school, in September 1988, nationwide demonstrations broke out and the military took to the streets of Rangoon to restore order. Wa Wa watched as student demonstrators were gunned down by soldiers firing from the rooftops around her.

Nyi Nyi and Wa Wa, along with thousands of other Burmese students, fled to Thailand. They met in Bangkok and became friends. In 1991, Wa Wa came to the United States and settled in Montgomery County. Nyi Nyi followed two years later. They fell in love and got engaged. Both became American citizens. Wa Wa became a nurse, and Nyi Nyi worked in IT at the US Patent and Trademark Office before returning to full-time democracy activism. Over the past decade, he has worked with a number of groups that promote democracy in Burma, helping with research and the training of student activists.

Nyi Nyi knew that traveling to Burma was risky. In 2008, during one of his trips to Rangoon to meet with other activists, military officers showed up at his hotel, presumably to arrest him. After they asked for him at the front desk, a receptionist he had befriended called his room to alert him. He escaped out a back exit.

But Nyi Nyi decided to go back to Burma on September 3 of last year to visit his mother, who has cancer and is imprisoned in a rural jail for her own democracy advocacy. He needed to see her in person to know the extent of her disease and try to make arrangements for better care. The Burmese regime was denying her medical treatment, and from 8,500 miles away in Gaithersburg, Nyi Nyi was powerless to help.

When Nyi Nyi stepped off the plane in Rangoon, he spotted two military-security officers and knew right away they were there for him. As they apprehended him, Nyi Nyi protested loudly to call attention to himself. Otherwise, he feared, he would simply vanish.

“I’m just a visitor!” Nyi Nyi yelled. “I’m an American!”

After arguing for a minute or two, the officers brought him into a private room. “You’re a good actor,” one of them said. “But we know you’re pretending.”

Nyi Nyi asked if he was being arrested, and at first the officer said no. Then a higher-ranking officer entered.

“Nyi Nyi Aung,” he said. It wasn’t a question but an accusation.

“No, that’s not me,” Nyi Nyi said.

“We know who you are. We’ve been reading your e-mails,” the officer said. “We know you’re friends with other activists and that you have colleagues who are jailed here.”

Nyi Nyi knew he couldn’t fake it. “I am Nyi Nyi Aung,” he admitted. “What’s wrong with me?”

The officers didn’t answer. They handcuffed him and covered his face with a hood, then put him in a car and drove him around for hours. He ended up at a government-run interrogation center, where he was questioned and beaten. He was held for two days and then moved to another interrogation center for 12 more days. He subsisted on coffee and slept only when he slipped into unconsciousness.

For the 12 days at the second interrogation center, he had to sit in a chair with his hands chained to a table. The military officers kicked his chair, sending him jerking back and forth so violently that they dislodged a disc in his spine. They wanted Nyi Nyi to admit he was plotting against the government.

“What are you planning?” they yelled. “Who is funding you?”

Nyi Nyi asked for a lawyer. He told his captors that he was an American citizen. He said he wanted to see the US consul—the embassy official responsible for protecting Americans in the country. For 17 days, the requests were ignored and Nyi Nyi had no way of letting Wa Wa know where he was.