U Win Htein born 1941 - a current and former prisoner of conscience - being an extract from pages 187 to 193 of his autobiography dealing with Martyrs' Day and is read by his youngest child, his daugh

Myanmar Oral History Project - life stories - A podcast by Peter Church

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U Win Htein is an elder politician of the National League for Democracy, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's right hand man, a former parliamentarian, army captain and businessman.U Win Htein has spent 20 years of his life in prison for his belief in democracy.He has written his autobiography entitled "Win Htein's story for posterity: Burma's odyssey from tyranny to quasi-democracy" which can be purchased as a ebook from many online booksellers such as https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/win-hteins-story-for-posterity-win-htein/1140822639.It is extremely hard to believe that at the age of 79 for speaking out against the coup of 1 February, 2021 U Win Htein was sentenced in late October 2021 for sedition and received a 20 year prison sentence.  He is currently serving this sentence at a jail in Mandalay.This Episode deals with Martyrs' Day which occurred 75 years ago today on 19 July 1947 when assassins entered a room in the Secretariat where the Governor's Executive Council was meeting and shot dead 9 prominent men, including U Aung San and a number of ethnic leaders, who would all have played a prominent role in an independent Burma.  The modern history of Burma might well have been a very different if these assassinations had not taken place.   19 July has been called "Martyrs' Day" ever since.Please feel free to contact me with suggested interviewees at [email protected] you for listening .Peter Church