The Guardian of London highlights Even Though I'm Free, I'm Not, an exhibition by James MacKay, of the portraits of former Burma's political prisoners, almost all photographed in exile from Thailand to Britain to Norway.
The exhibition can be seen on-line at Enigma Images' website.
Two years ago Aye Min Soe was known the world over, star of Oscar-nominated documentary Burma VJ, the shot-in-secret story of Burma's 2007 Saffron Revolution. Today, the former political prisoner leads an anonymous existence, stateless, penniless and vulnerable, on the Thai-Burma border. Mired between UN and Thai government bureaucracy, his application for refugee status has stalled. He has no documentation allowing him to be in Thailand, he cannot work, and is regularly threatened with deportation back to Burma.
"If I was sent back to Burma, I would be arrested and jailed straight away. I might be killed. I thought I would be free when I escaped from my country, but I am not. I feel I am still in prison."
Aye Min's story is typical of Burma's political exiles, says photographer James Mackay, who has spent two years travelling the world, seeking out the country's diaspora of former political prisoners, documenting their stories.
"In prison you are told: 'You are not a person, you are a prisoner.' But even when you are released, you are never given your life back. You are watched everywhere you go, nobody will employ you. You are watched from the moment you leave prison, until you flee the country, and even after that."
Even Though I'm Free, I Am Not is the title of an exhibition of Mackay's portraits of more than 160 former political prisoners, currently on display at Amnesty UK's London headquarters. Each portrait is shot in the same way: the subject facing the camera, their right hand raised, palm forward. On their palm is written the name of a political activist still in prison.
The exhibition features a photograph of U Win Tin, the elder statesman of Burma's democracy movement, unbowed by 19 years in jail. In a defiant and dangerous gesture, his hand bears the name of Burma's most famous political prisoner, his friend and colleague Aung San Suu Kyi.
Every former political prisoner carries the burden of friends left behind. Currently, 2,183 political prisoners sit in jails across Burma, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says. Only around 200 former prisoners are free around the world. And, as the country withdraws into further isolation ahead of its first elections in a generation next month, there is little prospect any will be released soon.
Six weeks out, the junta's famously paranoid generals are shutting off the country, denying visas to visitors and cancelling those of foreign nationals already in the country. Few will see the election that even fewer believe will be either free or fair.
The British government has dismissed the election as illegitimate. "More than 2,000 political prisoners are being held in Burma, which makes it impossible for a meaningful election to take place," said Jeremy Browne, minister of state at the Foreign Office. Tomorrow, Browne travels to Brussels with Nick Clegg to discuss the Burma situation with other European and Asian ministers at the ASEM (Asia Europe Meeting) summit. To help highlight the plight of the prisoners, figures such as David Miliband, Desmond Tutu and actor Christopher Eccleston have demonstrated their support for Amnesty's campaign by also marking their palms with the name of a political prisoner – Amnesty is encouraging anyone who wishes to show their solidarity to do likewise and upload a photograph via their Flickr group.
Among Burmese, opinion is divided over the merit of even participating in the election....