EARLY on September 3, my phone rang. I picked up, thinking it might be my fiance, Nyi Nyi Aung, who was visiting family in Bangkok, Thailand. But it was Nyi Nyi's brother. Nyi Nyi, he said, had boarded a plane to our native Burma earlier that day, hoping to visit his mother, who has cancer. But according to friends waiting at the baggage claim, he never arrived. In all likelihood, agents of the military junta seized him. Nyi Nyi is an American citizen, I thought. How could this happen? Then, it hit me: I might never see him again.
I called the US embassy in Rangoon; I wrote to our congressional representatives. And I waited. On September 20, 17 days after Nyi Nyi disappeared, the junta acknowledged his arrest. The charge, according to the state-run newspaper, was "plotting riots and sabotage". I felt sick but not surprised: although Nyi Nyi has always been a nonviolent activist, the junta will say anything to justify its actions. Then, after the embassy was allowed a brief visit, I learned the worst: he was tortured. He was denied food for over a week. Kicked in his face. Beaten on his back. Not allowed to sleep.
As a peaceful participant in the 1988 Burmese student protests, Nyi Nyi had once before been detained and tortured by the junta. I, too, had been involved in the student uprising and fled to Thailand after the brutal August 1988 military crackdown. That's where Nyi Nyi and I met. While in Thailand, he worked with organisations helping refugees, while continuing to advocate on behalf of Burmese democracy and human rights.
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Related Coverage
* Top-rank delegates fly in to Burma The Australian, 3 Nov 2009
* Senator in landmark talks with Burma ruler Adelaide Now, 15 Aug 2009
* Defying the despots The Australian, 12 Aug 2009
* How a 'divine mission' got hero jailed Adelaide Now, 11 Aug 2009
* Jailing puts Suu Kyi out of poll The Australian, 11 Aug 2009
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In 1991, drawn to the US, I decided to resettle there; he followed two years later. He received a computer science degree and started working for hi-tech companies. He became a naturalised US citizen, like me. We became engaged. But he never forgot Burma. He continued quietly assisting groups organising peaceful opposition to the junta. As part of this work he returned to Burma five
times, each time with his US passport and a valid visa. The first four trips he went unmolested. The fifth trip was different.
Nyi Nyi is to stand trial in Burma. The terrorism charges have been dropped, but he is facing sham charges of fraud and forgery relating to his alleged possession of a fake Burmese identity card even though he clearly had no need of fake identification, given his US passport and valid visa.
He has also been charged with illegally importing Burmese currency and failing to declare US currency at customs. But he was arrested before he had a chance to go through customs. He faces a maximum sentence of 17 years. The courts in Burma are tools of the junta, and there is little doubt that he will be convicted.
Recently, the Barack Obama administration completed its Burma policy review. Sanctions will remain, but the administration has signalled that it will pursue greater engagement with the junta. Recently, US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell travelled to Rangoon, becoming the most senior US diplomat to visit Burma in more than a decade. I hope and pray he raised Nyi Nyi's case.
But Nyi Nyi is far from alone. He is the only American political prisoner in Burma, but there are more than 2000 Burmese prisoners of conscience. This number includes my nephew, Nyi Nyi's mother and two of his cousins. Their crime? Peaceful support for freedom and human rights.
Several months before his arrest, Nyi Nyi went to New York City to deliver a petition to the UN urging the release of all political prisoners in Burma. Now I must speak for Nyi Nyi, as he has so often spoken for others. His arrest, detention and treatment has been condemned by the international community. And so I say: your words show you take this issue seriously. But what will you do?
Wa Wa Kyaw is the fiancee of imprisoned Burmese-American human rights activist Nyi Nyi Aung.
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