Win Htein ( my, ဝင်းထိန် ) is a Burmese politician and former inmate who served as a

Pyithu Hluttaw The Pyithu Hluttaw ( my, ပြည်သူ့ လွှတ်တော်, ; House of Representatives) is the ''de jure'' lower house of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the bicameral legislature of Myanmar (Burma). It consists of 440 members, of whic ...

MP for

Meiktila Township Meiktila Township ( my, မိတ္ထီလာ မြို့နယ်) is a township of Meiktila District in the Mandalay Division of Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions req ...

. He is a patron and member of the Central Executive Committee of

National League for Democracy The National League for Democracy ( my, အမျိုးသား ဒီမိုကရေစီ အဖွဲ့ချုပ်, ; Abbreviation, abbr. NLD; Burmese abbr. ဒီချုပ်) is a liberal democratic political party in Myanm ...

(NLD), for which he acts as official spokesperson. Win Htein is considered to be one of the closest confidantes of NLD chairperson

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from ...

. On the morning of 5 February 2021, he was charged with

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...

and moved to the capital of Naypyidaw On 29 October 2021, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison and he was transferred from a Naypyitaw detention centre to Obo Prison in

Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fo ...

Early life and career

Win Htein was born in Sel Kone Village,

Meiktila Meiktila (; ) is a city in central Burma on the banks of Meiktila Lake in the Mandalay Region at the junctions of the Bagan-Taunggyi, Yangon-Mandalay and Meiktila-Myingyan highways. Because of its strategic position, Meiktila is home to Myanmar Ai ...

Mandalay Region Mandalay Region ( my, မန္တလေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Mandalay Division) is an administrative divisions of Myanmar, administrative division of Myanmar. It is located in the center of the country, bordering ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

to parents Hla Tun and Khin Su. He joined the

Tatmadaw Tatmadaw (, , ) is the official name of the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include th ...

in 1959, graduating at the top of his class in 1963 from the fifth intake of the

Defence Services Academy The Defence Services Academy ( my, စစ်‌တက္ကသိုလ်, ) located in Pyin Oo Lwin, is the premier military service academy of Myanmar, training future officers for all three branches of Myanmar military. The Ministry of Defence ...

. Attaining the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, he participated in a number of counterinsurgency operations before taking a staff position at the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

. He was dismissed from the armed forces in 1977, apparently because of his association with former general and later

cofounder

Tin Oo Tin Oo ( my, တင်ဦး, ; born 11 March 1927), often referred to as U Tin Oo, is a Burmese politician, activist and retired general in the Armed Forces who was one of the founders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Myanmar, the c ...

, and embarked on a new career as a businessman and consultant after he was awarded a science degree from

Rangoon Arts and Science University '') , mottoeng = There's no friend like wisdom. , established = , type = Public , rector = Dr. Tin Mg Tun , undergrad = 4194 , postgrad = 5748 , city = Kamayut 11041, Yangon , state = Yangon Regio ...

National League for Democracy and imprisonment

Following the

8888 Uprising The 8888 Uprising ( my, ၈၈၈၈ အရေးအခင်း), also known as the People Power UprisingYawnghwe (1995), pp. 170 and the 1988 Uprising, was a series of nationwide protests, marches, and riots in Burma (present-day Myanmar) th ...

in 1988, Tin Oo sought out Win Htein and asked him to join the

, where he was assigned to the personal staff of

. Along with dozens of other NLD members, he was arrested in July 1989, subjected to physical torture during interrogations and held in solitary confinement at Yangon's notorious

Insein Prison Insein Prison ( my, အင်းစိန်ထောင်) is located in Yangon Division, near Yangon (Rangoon), the old capital of Myanmar (formerly Burma). From 1988 to 2011 it was run by the military junta of Myanmar, named the State Law and ...

. Released in 1995 under a general amnesty for

political prisoners A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although nu ...

, he was arrested again the following year and charged with "instructing" Maung Tin Hlaing, a bodyguard of

, to speak about the torture of

in Myanmar's jails during an interview with the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

, and organising farmers to collect agricultural statistics. Released from Katha Prison in 2008, he was arrested again less than 24 hours later. He was released from prison a third and final time on July 15, 2010.

Parliamentary career

Win Htein was elected to the

seat of

, his hometown, to represent the NLD after the Myanmar by-elections in April 2012. He replaced Thein Aung, who vacated his seat to take the post of Deputy Minister for Industry in the government of President

Thein Sein Thein Sein ( my, သိန်းစိန်; IPA: ; born 20 April 1944) is a Burmese politician and retired general in the Myanmar Army who served as the eighth President of Myanmar from 2011 to 2016. He previously served as Prime Minister ...

. In March 2013, Meiktila was the site of anti-Muslim riots that left more than 40 people dead, including 32 teenage students at the Mingalar Zayone Islamic Boarding School. Win Htein, who attempted to intervene to stop the riots, later said the violence made him "ashamed to be from Meiktila", prompting anger from Buddhist constituents and a failed attempt to recall him from the Pyithu Hluttaw. Win Htein did not recontest his seat in the 2015 election. He told the

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

he would focus on internal NLD party matters into the future, following the party's landslide election win. On 29 October 2021, Win Htein was sentenced by the military junta to 20 years in prison in

's Obo Prison, purportedly for making remarks after the

2021 Myanmar coup d'état A coup d'état in Myanmar began on the morning of 1 February 2021, when democratically elected members of the country's ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were deposed by the Tatmadaw—Myanmar's military—which then veste ...

. He was found guilty of sedition, under Section 124(A) of the

Myanmar Penal Code The Penal Code of Myanmar is the official criminal code of Myanmar. The code was enacted on 1 May 1861 during British rule in Burma and is divided into 23 chapters. The Penal Code of Myanmar is nearly identical to the Indian Penal Code, due to the ...

, which recently had been amended by the military junta shortly after his arrest to increase the maximum term from 3 years to 20 years, and expanded to “Defense Services or Defense Services Personnel.”

Personal life

He married Thein Myint Kyi and the couple has two sons and two daughter. Years in prison have taken a toll on the health of Win Htein. In 2014, he collapsed on the floor of parliament and requires an oxygen tank to sleep at night because of a chronic heart condition. A brief hospitalisation in February 2016 led to widely circulated and false rumours of his death.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Win Htein People from Mandalay Region National League for Democracy politicians Living people Burmese prisoners and detainees Burmese activists 1941 births