Thursday 14 September 2017

UN: Myanmar's treatment of Rohingya 'textbook example of ethnic cleansing'

Source theguardian, 11 Sept

Top UN human rights official denounces security crackdown against Muslim minority in Rakhine state

A Rohingya refugee pulls a child as they walk to the shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat on Sunday.A Rohingya refugee pulls a child as they walk to shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat on Sunday. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

 in Delhi

Myanmar's treatment of its Muslim Rohingya minority appears to be a "textbook example" of ethnic cleansing, the top UN human rights official has said.

In an address to the United Nations human rights council in Geneva, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein denounced the "brutal security operation" against the Rohingya in Rakhine state, which he said was "clearly disproportionate" to insurgent attacks carried out last month.

More than 310,000 people have fled to Bangladesh in recent weeks, with more trapped on the border, amid reports of the burning of villages and extrajudicial killings.

"I call on the government to end its current cruel military operation, with accountability for all violations that have occurred, and to reverse the pattern of severe and widespread discrimination against the Rohingya population," Zeid said. 

"The situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."

On Sunday Bangladesh's foreign minister accused the Burmese government of committing genocide against the Rohingya. Analysts said that AH Mahmood Ali's language was the strongest yet from Myanmar's neighbour, and reflected intense frustration in Dhaka at the continuing influx of desperate Rohingya refugees.

Over the weekend the Dalai Lama became the latest Nobel peace prize laureate to speak out about the crisis, telling the Burmese forces involved in attacks on the ethnic Muslim minority to "remember Buddha".

Ali told diplomats on Sunday that unofficial sources had put the Rohingya death toll from the latest unrest in Rakhine at about 3,000.

The violence was triggered on 25 August when a Rohingya militant group attacked more than a dozen security sites and killed 12 people.

Militia groups, local security forces and the Burmese army responded with "clearance operations" that have forced refugees into Bangladesh and left tens of thousands more displaced inside the state.

"The international community is saying it is a genocide. We also say it is a genocide," Ali told reporters in Dhaka.

He said the influx of refugees in the past month took the total number of Rohingya in Bangladesh to more than 700,000. "It is now a national problem," he said.

Ali said about 10,000 homes had been burned in Rakhine state, a figure that cannot be verified as Myanmar has restricted independent access to the state.

Scores of refugees in Bangladesh have given accounts of arson by Burmese security forces. On Sunday Human Rights Watch said that satellite analysis had shown evidence of fire damage in urban areas populated by Rohingyas as well as in isolated villages.

Myanmar says it is targeting armed insurgents, including fighters from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa), the group which claimed responsibility for the August attacks and reportedly controls small areas of Rakhine.

Arsa, which has been accused of carrying out attacks against Buddhist and Hindu civilians, called for a month-long "humanitarian pause" on Sunday to deal with the refugee crisis. The truce was dismissed by Myanmar authorities, which said they did not negotiate with "terrorists".

The International Organisation for Migration estimated about 313,000 Rohingya had crossed into Bangladesh by Monday, noting that the influx appeared to be slowing. Many new arrivals were on the move inside Bangladesh and could not be counted, it added.

Rohingya have been systematically persecuted for decades by the Burmese government which, contrary to historical evidence, regards them as illegal migrants from Bangladesh and restricts their citizenship rights and access to government services.

Earlier security operations have been described as possible "crimes against humanity" by the United Nations, but the scale of the latest violence – and allegations that Burmese forces are mining the border – have led to speculation the military is trying remove Rohingya from the country for good.

The Dalai Lama spoke about the crisis for the first time on Friday. "Those people who are sort of harassing some Muslims, they should remember Buddha," he told journalists. "He would definitely give help to those poor Muslims. So still I feel that. So very sad."

Myanmar's population is overwhelmingly Buddhist and there is widespread hatred for the Rohingya. Buddhist nationalists, led by firebrand monks, have operated a long Islamophobic campaign calling for them to be pushed out of the country.

Myanmar's de facto civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been condemned for her refusal to intervene in support of the Rohingya.

Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

Malaysia PM says Rohingya face systematic atrocities

Source Arabnews, 9 Sept


SUBANG, Malaysia: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Saturday said Rohingya Muslims face systematic violence including torture, rape and murder in Myanmar.



Predominantly Muslim Malaysia has spoken out strongly against mostly Buddhist Myanmar over its treatment of its Rohingya minority since violence erupted last October.
In the past 15 days, nearly 300,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighboring Bangladesh after raids by Rohingya militants triggered a Myanamr security forces crackdown in Rakhine state.
"Based on the reports we have received, (the Rohingya) are discriminated and no mercy is accorded to them," he told reporters at the Subang Airforce base on the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur.
"Actually, it is done in a planned manner so that they are tortured, discriminated, killed and raped," he added.
Earlier Najib witnessed the deployment of two airforce cargo planes with food and medical supplies to the port city of Chittagong in Bangladesh.
"We are sending two planes with biscuits, rice and soap. Malaysia will do whatever it can to help since this is a huge disaster," he said.
Najib also said a reconnaissance team would arrive in Dhaka on Monday consisting of diplomats and military officers to identify further assistance needed by the Rohingya.
Malaysia's armed forces chief said Saturday that Kuala Lumpur would provide a 200-bed military field hospital in Bangladesh if the government there granted permission.
Describing Myanmar's inaction to halt the violence against innocent civilians as "rather disappointing," Najib said he will raise the Rohingya humanitarian tragedy with President Donald Trump on September 12 during an official visit to the White House.
"We have to help because the Rohingya tragedy has reached terrible proportions," he said.
On Friday, the powerful youth wing of Najib's dominant Malaysia's ruling party led a noisy street protest urging Kuala Lumpur to sever diplomatic ties with Yangon.
Malaysia on Tuesday summoned the Myanmar ambassador to voice its "deep concern" over the situation in Rakhine state, where witnesses said entire villages have been burned.
Over 1,000 people — more than twice the government's total estimate — may already have been killed in Rakhine, mostly Rohingya, said Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar.
As of June this year, there are 59,100 Rohingya refugees registered with the UN Refugee Agency in Malaysia.

River of Rohingya Corpses still Misinformation for Suu Kyi (Video)


Source Rohingyavision, 9 Sept

River of Rohingya Corpses still Misinformation for Suu Kyi (Video)

Related Articles

When the military and its Rakhine militia commit savagery in its worst form by hacking or beating to death, burning alive, shooting dead, Mass-killing, etc., Daw Aung San Suu Kyi covers up the atrocities and protects those criminals saying that there are 'misinformation' being spread in media. This stand of hers aggravated the situation and this shows how the two major partners share an ethnic-cleansing coordinately.

07 September 2017 - Rohingya Corpses in Naf River ...  video

Inline image 1▶ 1:22


This is a video taken by some Bangladeshi locals helping refugees in Naf River. Without description, the video itself is talking how mercilessly the lives of the people in the video taken. For more video, visit our Eyewitness playlists on YouTube.

After all these, Let the State Counsellor Office Information Committee or the government spokesperson Zaw Htay lie that those people have suicided, as they usually lie that 'Rohingya burned their own homes'. Where is Suu Kyi's fake news?

The following picture is of another incident.


Comments

Myanmar, Moderate Your Genocide!

Source Maungzarni, 8 Sept




Myanmar, Moderate Your Genocide!

My country is committing pogroms 
Pogroms against Rohingyas.

I knew this day would come.  And it did come sooner!

Wait!,  Rohingyas don't exist. 

The victims didn't exist.  They don't exist. 
And they will not exist - as who they say they are. 

For the perpetrators, the victims never exist - not as humans.

We are proud Myanmar.   We don't care about your pressure.

We have Security Council on our side.

Yes, Blanket Impunity. 

Our Commander-in-Chief says, "finish the unfinished business" from 1942.
General Min Aung Hlaing wants the land, but not the inhabitants. 

So now we slaughter these half-starved creatures,
who insist on calling themselves Rohingyas

Wave after wave,
Killers come,
Arsonists come,
Rapists come,
Soldiers come,
Police come,
Rakhines come.

Then they slit girls' throat, 
They rape women, some barely teens.
They slaughter pregnant mothers, 
They execute husbands,
They burn old men alive, who can barely walk.
Spare infants? Who would look after these poor creatures.
Send them to Allah. 

So tell the survivors. 

Not just one, two, three, .....
Thousands of survivors who tell eyewitness tales,
Tales of horror, tales of inhumanity

The crimes of barbarity

No, No, We Myanmar are engaged in 'self-defence'.

This is all about  "national security".
Against these extremists.
Against these terrorists.

And repeat pattern of killing, arson, rape, expulsion - by the thousands
Decade after decade, they calibrate the rate, the rate of their kills
The perpetrators tell tales - "illegal immigration" "communal violence" "colonial-unfinished-business" "neo-Balkan transitional issue", ....

Myanmar's narratives keep changing
Don't you worry, people. 
The world will come around. 

Pogroms keep on coming - arson, rape, pillage, exodus, etc.

Decade after decade, four to be exact.

The World's governments  have known this for decades.
The United Nations have known this for decades.

They all hold their noses
 as they smell the blood of the slaughtered.

They all hear nothing
as toddlers cry, raped mothers scream, old men beg for mercy.

They look, but they don't see
Charred babies, debilitated men, mutilated corpses in Rakhine mud

Without a prick on their conscience, men and women of power
they stand up and observe a moment of silence, in Live cast ceremonies - from New York, Geneva, Paris, Washington,

How sad the victims of past pogroms have perished
200 million in 100 years. 

Stand up! Say one more time!
NEVER AGAIN!

Well, Rohingyas are a different case, potential "security concerns",

This ain't Auschwitz.  
This ain't Rwanda.  
This ain't Srebrenica.

Most are Fake News, anyway.

Moderation, Buddhist Leaders.
Restraints in genocide, the World Leaders must advise.
Just don't accelerate Myanmar pogroms
Lest you invite "Muslim terror".

Carry on with your "unfinished business" of the slow genocide.
Call it what you will, communal or self-defence.

But just don't speed  it up. 
270,000 fleeing in 2 weeks is too fast
for UN to ignore.   

ZARNI, 8 September 2017

Wednesday 12 November 2014

Boatpeople Emerge from Jungle North of Phuket: American Helps to Feed Them

Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) on November 12, 2014 17:24 Pres.Obama should warn Burma to immediately stop Rohingya tragedy and return all their stolen rights. Thailand leader must rtaise the Rohingya boat people issue at 2014 Asean summit in Myanmar. We appreciated Ms Lemmo's noble services towards humanity .
Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) on November 12, 2014 17:24
Barefoot and bereft, boatpeople emerge from the jungle north of Phuket
Barefoot and bereft, boatpeople emerge from the jungle north of Phuket
Photo by Nicole Lemmo
  1. Boatpeople Emerge from Jungle North of Phuket: American Helps to Feed Them

By Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
PHOTO ALBUM Scores more desperate boatpeople emerge from the jungle north of Phuket, latest in a wave driven by hatred and human trafficking that has to be overcome to save thousands of lives. More »

==========
Disgusting that in this modern age people are treated like this...where is the United Nations...ohh I forgot...they are too busy in their plush offices in Bkk ...is their anything that one can do to help ie food or clothes etc...forget their beliefs just for a few moments...just so sad
Posted by PhuketStan on November 12, 2014 10:01
gravatar Breaks my heart to read about there Plight.
Well done to Ms Lemmo, very very kind of,you.

Posted by Robert on November 12, 2014 11:08
gravatar Just in time for the 2014 Asean summit in Myanmar! If Thailand doesn't step up now with some tough words/actions against Burma's racist policies I think they're in for a big human tsunami...
Posted by Lana on November 12, 2014 11:42
gravatar Thought the Rotary Club of Patong Beach, we have distributed Baht 19,000 for various refugee groups over the past month. I am headed to Kuraburi today and I shall check on the situation and advise through Phuketwan if funds are needed and what goods are needed.
Brad Kenny - President

Posted by Brad Kenny on November 12, 2014 12:31
  http://phuketwan.com/tourism/boatpeople-emerge-jungle-north-phuket-american-helps-feed-21360/

Monday 10 November 2014

Thailand Must Halt Human Trafficking, Declares District Chief North of Phuket

  Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) on November 10, 2014 18
The District Chief Khun Manit can not control the rescued people in the camp or police custody. There are people around him who always busy to steal the victims but he doesn't know them really. Every victim can be sold @ minimum 2000 US dollars . I am sure the sincere and honest officer Khun Manit realizes it now. The officers and honest volunteers should have very difficult to clarify the traffickers. Every Rohingya pretend to be rescuers ,activists and translators are directly work for traffickers. I am sure most of the victims are going to be recycled again in between traffickers and rescuers. If the rescued victims can be kept out of Rohingya helpers touch ,Khun Manit dream will be easy to reach goal. Otherwise the trafficking will be continued .rohingya victims are hot cake to pickpocketing a big money within hours in the south.
Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) on November 10, 2014 18

The Director of Takuapa District, Manit Pleantong, is leading a change
The Director of Takuapa District, Manit Pleantong, is leading a change
Photo by phuketwan.com

Thailand Must Halt Human Trafficking, Declares District Chief North of Phuket

By Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Latest The province of Phang Nga, north of Phuket, is likely to become the first along the Andaman coast of Thailand to take action to end the secret trade in people that results in rape, deaths and abuse. More

Re: Thailand Must Halt Human Trafficking, Declares District Chief North of Phuket
Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) wrote on Monday November 10, 2014 at 18:46
The District Chief Khun Manit can not control the rescued people in the camp or police custody. There are people arou...

http://phuketwan.com/tourism/thailand-halt-human-trafficking-declares-district-chief-north-phuket-21311/#acomment_72670

Friday 7 November 2014

Burma's Forces Help Traffickers to Trade Rohingya, Says Rights Group

Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) on November 7, 2014 13:13
As per BRAT news room ,we didn't have any evidences that anyone or group of Burma directly traffick Rohingya and Kaman from the ground .Those who are fleeing are due to continue genocidal action in their own country. The government approved Rakhine Action Plan which force ancestral Rohingyas to be foreigner Bengali , not returning their National ID cards and delaying to return their seized home are the real factor for mass fleeing . It is true that ,Rohingya arriving Thailand ,Malaysia always fall at the hands of waiting traffickers. Then starts various method of discrimination against the captives. The victims lives are recycling among the traffickers gangs. There are very rear groups have good intention to stop the Rohingya tragedy at the hand of traffickers. It is more than true that some Rohingyas and foreigners make big money from Rohingya plights. They seem to see plight of Rohingya to be continued for their continue earning money . Frankly ,we have lost confidence on so called Rohingya helping group . The trafficking will be continue if the sincere and honest activists ,rights groups are not coming forwards. If so called news suppliers and helpers of the Rohingyas become part of traffickers , how the tragedy of Rohingyas will be stopped ?As Rohingyas we are directly concerned and we know the real pain of tragedy.
Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) on November 7, 2014 13:13

Burma's Forces Help Traffickers to Trade Rohingya, Says Rights Group

By Fortify Rights media release
Friday, November 7, 2014
Latest A rights group confirms what boatpeople have told Phuketwan - that the Burmese Navy and other organisations play an active role in shipping Rohingya south. More »
Please read full here--

http://phuketwan.com/tourism/burmas-forces-help-traffickers-trade-rohingya-says-rights-group-21332/
credit:Phuketwan

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Government 'Genocide' Leads to 80% Heroin Addiction for Myanmar Youth

Government 'Genocide' Leads to 80% Heroin Addiction for Myanmar Youth


Asia's drug problem is ravaging communities at an alarming rate, but in the nation of Myanmar, the drug addiction epidemic has become so pervasive that shopkeepers give customers syringes as change when they do not have currency.

In "Silent Offensive," a stunning report by the Kachin Women’s Association of Thailand--a women's group covering the border region between Thailand and Myanmar--drug addicts and their families tell stories of the horrific lengths to which heroin addicts will go to feed their addiction, and just how pervasive heroin is in certain communities. As the Global Post notes, a customer in some areas of the Kachin border state will receive syringes as change in stores. Previously, store owners would also dispense candy or cigarettes instead of money, as customers perceived these to be more valuable than actual Burmese money. The report notes that, in addition to syringes, "gas stations also make change using bottles of sterile water, which addicts draw into syringes to turn powdered heroin into an injectable liquid."
The Global Post estimates that 80% of young people in Kachin are drug addicts. In its capital, Myitkyina, "needles are strewn in the fields, on the streets and on the local university’s campus. In the internet cafes, patrons are warned not to shoot up while checking email."

In an extensive report by Patrick Winn, the Global Post reports that the problem is particularly acute in the mountains of Kachin, in large part because police presence is minimal in the mostly Christian area, especially compared to the totalitarian displays in the Buddhist center of the country. The divide has led many to accuse the government of deliberately allowing heroin to spread like wildfire, incapacitating the region's youth to prevent an uprising.
The words "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide" flow freely in Winn's article, as those who oppose drug use in the region and have lost friends and family to heroin suspect the government's motives for taking a passive role in policing the region. “It’s an ethnic cleansing policy. ... This drug is being used as a weapon," says one Kachin drug researcher working at Kansas State University. A student at Myitkyina University, who single-handedly launched an anti-heroin offensive at the capital school, condemns the government for "a form of genocide," stating, "They can fight us outright and waste money and soldiers’ lives, or they can let drugs destroy us at our core, our education system, for free.”

UNHCR launches 10-year global campaign to end statelessness

UNHCR launches 10-year global campaign to end statelessness

News Stories, 4 November 2014
© UNHCR
One of the striking "I Belong" campaign images created by United Colors of Benetton.
GENEVA, November 4 (UNHCR) The UN refugee agency, with endorsement from high-profile supporters, on Tuesday launched a global campaign aimed at ending the devastating legal limbo of statelessness, which affects millions of people around the world.
"The goal of eradicating statelessness is looking increasingly possible thanks to dramatic recent progress in the number of states acceding to two key UN human rights treaties," said a UNHCR press release announcing the "I Belong" campaign.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie and more than 30 celebrities and world opinion leaders today published an Open Letter, saying that 60 years after the United Nations first agreed to protect stateless people, "now it's time to end statelessness itself."

At least 10 million people worldwide are currently stateless and a baby is born stateless every 10 minutes. Not allowed a nationality, they are often denied the rights and services that countries normally offer their citizens.

"Statelessness can mean a life without education, without medical care or legal employment . . . a life without the ability to move freely, without prospects or hope," the Open Letter said. "Statelessness is inhuman. We believe it is time to end this injustice."
Acclaimed actress and director Jolie said being stateless meant adults and their children having no legal identity, no passport, no vote, and few or no opportunities to get an education. "Ending statelessness would right these terrible wrongs. But it would also strengthen society in countries where stateless people are found, by making it possible to draw on their energy and talents. It is both an obligation and an opportunity for governments everywhere to put an end to this exclusion," she said.

Most situations of statelessness are a direct consequence of discrimination based on ethnicity, religion or gender. Twenty-seven countries at present deny women the right to pass their nationality on to their children on an equal basis with men, a situation that can create chains of statelessness that span generations. There is also a very real link between statelessness, displacement and regional stability.

UNHCR's campaign is being launched amid signs of a shift in international attitudes surrounding statelessness. Three years ago, there were barely 100 states parties to the two statelessness treaties the 1954 UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Today the number of accessions stands at 144, bringing critical mass within reach.

Despite such progress, new risks of statelessness have emerged with the growing number of major conflicts. Wars in Central African Republic and Syria, for example, have forced millions of people into internal displacement or into becoming refugees.
Tens of thousands of refugee children have been born in exile and UNHCR is working with the governments and partners in the countries receiving refugees on prioritizing birth registration for these children. The fact that many lack documents or that in some situations fathers have gone missing because of the conflict means that many of these children may face difficulties in proving they are citizens.

UNHCR has partnered with the United Colors of Benetton to create the "I Belong" campaign, which aims to draw global attention to the devastating life-long consequences of statelessness. Benetton has developed the creative content of the campaign and the campaign website to host it. Following the campaign launch, the Open Letter will become an online petition on this microsite, aiming to collect 10 million signatures in support of ending statelessness within a decade.

The refugee agency also released on Tuesday a "Special Report on Statelessness," which highlights the human impact of the phenomenon, and a 10-point Global Action Plan to End Statelessness. This aims both to resolve major existing crises and to ensure no child is born stateless in the future.
"Statelessness makes people feel like their very existence is a crime," said Guterres. "We have a historic opportunity to end the scourge of statelessness within 10 years, and give back hope to millions of people. We cannot afford to fail this challenge."
While issues of statelessness remain politically contentious in some countries, in others ending it can be as simple as changing a few words in a country's citizenship law. Over the past decade, legislative and policy changes have allowed more than 4 million stateless people to acquire a nationality or have their nationality confirmed.

For example, a 2008 High Court ruling in Bangladesh allowed 300,000 stateless Urdu speakers to become citizens, ending generations of despair. In Côte d'Ivoire, where statelessness was a root cause of a decade of armed conflict, legal reforms in 2013 allow long-term residents in the country to acquire a nationality. In Kyrgyzstan, more than 65,000 former Soviet citizens have acquired or confirmed their Kyrgyz citizenship since 2009.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the 1954 UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, which, alongside the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, provides the international legal basis for ending statelessness.

"With enough political will, UNHCR believes statelessness can be resolved. And unlike so many other problems facing governments today, statelessness can be solved in our lifetime," Tuesday's press release said. There are currently 83 state parties to the 1954 Convention and 61 to the 1961 Convention.
http://ibelong.unhcr.org

Monday 3 November 2014

Seven years after Saffron, an activist’s struggle continues

Seven years after Saffron, an activist’s struggle continues


By Kayleigh Long   |   Monday, 03 November 2014
10
Page 1 of 2
A key figure in the protests that engulfed Myanmar in September 2007, Gambira spent four years and two months behind bars – and was brutally tortured by his captors – before being released from prison in a January 2012 amnesty. Having once taken on the military regime, Gambira is now engaged in a new battle: overcoming post-traumatic stress disorder that stems from his time in prison, writes Kayleigh Long.
Gambira (right) talks with therapist Dr Rory Magee at The Cabin in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. Photo: SuppliedGambira (right) talks with therapist Dr Rory Magee at The Cabin in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. Photo: Supplied
Page 2 of 2

It was the meditation that Gambira learned as a young monk that helped him to survive prison, with its beatings, boredom and awful food. It helped him to be free – “free from fear, free from anger, free from grief”, he says – despite the bare walls and iron bars.
These days, he meditates just once a day, before bed. It helps him sleep.
While the rest of us take it for granted, sleep does not come easy for Gambira, who shot to prominence as one of the leaders of the 2007 protests. When it does finally arrive, his dreams are filled with recurrent nightmares.
“I have dreams – it is like physical torture. They’re not really beating [me] now, but it is not far away,” he told The Myanmar Times during a recent interview in Chiang Mai.
A pair of jeans and a plain T-shirt – sometimes matched with black-rimmed glasses and a leather jacket – have replaced the monk’s robes that the 35-year-old wore for most of his adult life.
Some outward signs of his time in the Sangha remain. When speaking Burmese, he has a deep, rhythmic voice - a cadence that likely developed from years of chanting. One of the hardest aspects of transitioning to lay life, he says, was adjusting to the informal tone of conversation.
Like many monks, Gambira had a formidable memory. This helped him greatly when he went underground before the uprising, as it was too dangerous for plans to be written down.
He can still recall much about the four years and two months he spent behind bars - normally solitary confinement - in prisons in Yangon, Sagaing, Ayeyarwady and Mandalay regions. But since walking free in January 2012, Gambira has struggled to remember basic things, such as taking the minimum-dose mood stabilisers he has been prescribed, or the antihistamines for his sinus problems.
A physician who treated him upon his release said he showed signs of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) from the severe beatings inflicted by guards. When he first got out, his speech had been affected and he was prone to slurring.
Life after prison was tough. Never out of the spotlight for long, Gambira made a short-lived return to the Sangha, and an even shorter marriage. He was rearrested several times and eventually moved to Thailand, where he sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Some of the scars he bears from prison, like those around his wrists from being forced to wear steel handcuffs for three months, will not fade. With treatment, though, there is hope that his poor memory, insomnia, headaches and recurrent nightmares – all textbook PTSD symptoms – can be alleviated, if not cured.
Life at The Cabin
In mid-2014, Gambira became an outpatient at The Cabin, a high-end rehabilitation facility on the outskirts of Chiang Mai. At US$13,000 a month, The Cabin’s treatment programs would normally be outside Gambira’s means, but he has been taken on for free as part of the centre’s CSR program.
His treatment at The Cabin is a regular schedule of yoga, mindfulness meditation and eye movement directional reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, overseen by his therapist, Rory Magee.
 
credit :Myanmar Times.