Washington – Today, Freedom Now submitted an urgent appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, on American Nyi Nyi Aung’s behalf.Nyi Nyi Aung, who has been unjustly imprisoned in Burma since September 3, 2009 is being subjected to torture by prison officials in Burma’s notorious Insein Prison.

The torture is punishment for his hunger strike earlier this month protesting the conditions of Burma’s political prisoners.

Mr. Aung is being kept in what is known in Burma as “military dog cell” confinement. This means that he is kept in solitary confinement in an 8 x 10 cell.

Military dogs are held directly across from his cell in order to subject him to almost constant, high-volume barking. This treatment and resulting sleep deprivation clearly meets the standard of cruel, inhuman and unusual treatment prohibited by multiple international treaties. Freedom Now believes that this treatment has been ongoing since at least December 7, 2009, when Mr. Aung initiated his hunger strike.

Information about this treatment has only now become available because of extended denial of access to him.

Freedom Now President Jared Genser stated: “We hope that UN Special Rapporteur Nowak will be able to persuade the Burmese junta to immediately stop torturing Nyi Nyi. We also believe that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton must personally demand that the Burmese junta cease treating an American citizen in this manner.”

Mr. Aung, a well-known non-violent democracy activist, was arrested by Burmese authorities on September 3, 2009. He was attempting to visit his mother, also an imprisoned democracy activist, who has cancer. Mr. Aung is falsely accused of using a forged Burmese national identity card and illegally importing currencies into the country. He is currently on trial for these alleged violations.

The Burmese junta has deprived Mr. Aung of his right to U.S. consular access since December 3, 2009. He was also deprived of this right during the first seventeen days of his detention. Mr. Aung was also tortured during this initial period of his detention. He was deprived of food and sleep, beaten, and denied medical treatment.