Torture and ill-treatment have become institutionalised in Burma. They are practised by the army as part of counterinsurgency activities, by military intelligence personnel when they interrogate political detainees, by prison guards and by the police. Patterns of torture have remained the same, although the time and place vary.
Torture occurs throughout the country and has been reported for four decades.
Members of the security forces continue to use torture as a means of extracting information, to punish political prisoners and members of ethnic minorities and as a means of instilling fear in anyone critical of the military government. Articles 330 and 331 of the Burmese Penal Code of 1957, which are believed to remain in force, prohibit torture and ill-treatment during interrogation. However, to AI s knowledge, no one has been charged or tried under these provisions. Political prisoners, believed to number about 1,700 people, are at risk of torture during the initial phases of detention when they are often interrogated for hours or even days at a time by rotating teams of military intelligence personnel. They are also vulnerable to torture and ill-treatment after sentencing when they can be punished for breaking arbitrary prison rules, such as possessing writing paper.