From Telegraph.co.uk :

'My terror at the hands of the Burmese junta'

By James Mawdsley

Last Updated: 1:18am BST 28/09/2007

James Mawdsley, 34, spent more than a year in a Burmese prison during 2000 and 2001 after taking part in protests in Rangoon

	James Mawdsley was tortured

The most terrifying moment I ever experienced was being pushed barefoot and blindfolded through the gates of a Burmese prison with a major of the Tatmadaw [(Burmese military] laughing at the prospect of torture. It was a deranged laugh.

His superior in the military intelligence gloated that they had been given the go-ahead to do "anything they liked" to me.

Hours later, my spirit broken, I was locked in a suffocating cell which they assured me would be my home for five years. To intensify my isolation they emptied that entire ward of the prison of other inmates.

I had no strength left. But unexpected people brought it back. The first was a prison guard who crept to my cell after midnight. He whispered: "I am sorry for what my country is doing to you."

What a pulse of hope to see this humanity in an officer of the regime. And how tragic that he felt ashamed for his country, which in truth is glorious, and of such gentle people who are not to blame for the military regime.

Later that night he brought me warm coffee and dry toast. I was too sick with fear to eat, yet he risked everything to bring it to me.

Another who helped, probably unwittingly, was one of the interrogators.

"The BBC broadcast about you," he remarked. Now I knew I was not cut off: the regime could not make me disappear without the world realising it. It was an immense relief. The torture stopped. I was transferred to Rangoon.

But the greatest help came from Christ. The Crucifixion makes sense of suffering. Jesus turned my misery into joy, even in that earthly hell, Insein prison.

Burma has many reasons to hope. First, there is humanity in the military regime; there are many soldiers in the Burmese army who do not want to shoot peaceful demonstrators.

In the right circumstances, the army could desert the generals. Second, the international community is watching as never before. This must give an enormous boost to morale.

We must pray for the Burmese people. What we are seeing now, though it may take many months, is a fight to the end.