Freed US journalist says he was tortured in Myanmar
YANGON Myanmar security forces punched, slapped and beat an American journalist and kept him blindfolded for more than a week of interrogation, he said after being deported to the US following over three months in detention.
Mr Nathan Maung, 44, editor-in-chief of the online news platform Kamayut Media, was detained on March 9 in a raid and freed on June 15.
He said colleague Hanthar Nyein, who remains in detention, had been tortured more harshly, as had other people he met in prison.
His comments echoes thousands of others who have been detained since the army overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb 1.
The junta has said detainees are being treated in accordance with the law.
"The first three to four days were the worst," Mr Nathan Maung said in a telephone interview from Virginia on Friday.
"I was punched and slapped several times. No matter what I said, they just beat me. They used both their hands to slap my eardrums many times. They punched my cheekbones on both sides.
Mr Nathan Maung, who was born in Myanmar and fled to the US as a refugee in the 1990s, said he was seized at the office and taken for questioning about his publication.
"They handcuffed my hands behind my back, tied my eyes with a cloth and covered that with another cloth," he said.
He said the beatings diminished on the fourth day, after they discovered he was a US citizen.
He was met by US officials after his release and they assisted him and his family, the US embassy said. - REUTERS
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