Jailed for months in Myanmar, American activist released, flies home to US

American released from Myanmar returns to US soil

CHANTILLY, Va. — A pro-democracy activist jailed for months in Myanmar after trying to visit his sick mother in prison arrived home in the United States on Friday, capping weeks of discussions between the ruling military junta and the U.S. State Department.

Nyi Nyi Aung (nee nee ong) was reunited with his fiance at Washington Dulles International Airport. He gave Wa Wa Kyaw (wah wah chaw) a long hug and said he was thankful to be home.

Still, the homecoming was bittersweet, he said.

“My freedom is not really the point. We want to try to reach freedom for Burma,” Nyi Nyi Aung said, using the other name for Myanmar. “My family and friends all stay in prison, so I feel not really happy.”

The 40-year-old has worked full-time in recent years from his Maryland home, funded by grants, to promote democracy in Myanmar. A political refugee, he became a U.S. citizen in 2002 after seeking asylum but has traveled back to his homeland many times without incident.

This time Nyi Nyi Aung, also known as Kyaw Zaw Lwin (chaw zow loo-ehn), was arrested in Yangon’s international airport upon arrival Sept. 3, accused of plotting to stir political unrest.

Authorities took him to an interrogation center where he said he was beaten and denied food and water for a week. The Washington-based advocacy group Freedom Now said he was held in solitary confinement and later placed in a military dog kennel with no light, bathroom or bed.

Nyi Nyi Aung was convicted in February of forging a national identity card, possessing undeclared foreign currency and failing to renounce his Myanmar citizenship when becoming an American citizen. He denied the charges.

Conditions improved somewhat when Nyi Nyi Aung was sent to prison, he said.

“The prison was physically fine, but mentally, they torture you,” he said.

He had lost 20 pounds by the time he returned home, said his fiance Wa Wa Kyaw.

“He looks tired, exhausted,” she said. “He’s very strong in spirit.”

The couple lives in Montgomery Village, Md., and Nyi Nyi Aung last returned to Myanmar in 2008. Last year, he desperately wanted to return, knowing the health of his mother, who has cancer, is failing.

“He was having nightmares about his mother,” said Wa Wa Kyaw.

He was the only known U.S. political prisoner in Myanmar, though at least 2,100 other political dissidents are detained there, according to the group Freedom Now.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a mouthpiece for the junta, said the government pardoned and deported Nyi Nyi Aung after giving “special consideration to bilateral friendship” after the U.S. State Department requested his release.

A U.S. consular official escorted him out of Myanmar, and the State Department in Washington welcomed Nyi Nyi Aung’s return Friday.

“His release is not something that happened just because the Burmese decided to be nice,” said State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid. “It happened because U.S. officials over several weeks made a determined effort to engage Burmese contacts that they have developed over the past year to make it clear how important his release is to the United States.

“That quiet diplomacy has paid off with his arrival here today.”

Ties between the two countries are strained.

The United States recently modified its strict policy of isolating the junta with hopes that increased engagement would encourage change. But the Obama administration has said it will not lift sanctions on Myanmar unless it sees concrete progress toward democratic reform. Most notably, U.S. officials seek the release of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and freedom for her party to participate in elections expected later this year.

As a teenager in Myanmar, Nyi Nyi Aung helped organize students during the country’s 1988 pro-democracy uprising, which was violently suppressed by the military, and later fled to the United States.

Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen said in a statement that the imprisonment was an affront to the rule of law.

“While I am pleased Nyi Nyi Aung has been set free, we must continue to press for the release of all political prisoners held by the Burmese junta,” Van Hollen said.

Associated Press Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.