Win Htein

Win Htein was born in Sel Kone Village, Meiktila, Mandalay Region, Burma to parents Hla Tun and Khin Su. He joined the Tatmadaw in 1959, graduating at the top of his class in 1963 from the fifth intake of the Defence Services Academy.[5] Attaining the rank of captain, he participated in a number of counterinsurgency operations before taking a staff position at the Ministry of Defence.[6] He was dismissed from the armed forces in 1977, apparently because of his association with former general and later National League for Democracy cofounder Tin Oo, and embarked on a new career as a businessman and consultant after he was awarded a science degree from Rangoon Arts and Science University.[5]

Following the 8888 Uprising in 1988, Tin Oo sought out Win Htein and asked him to join the National League for Democracy, where he was assigned to the personal staff of Aung San Suu Kyi.[6] 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.[6]

Released in 1995 under a general amnesty for political prisoners, he was arrested again the following year and charged with "instructing" Maung Tin Hlaing, a bodyguard of Aung San Suu Kyi, to speak about the torture of political prisoners in Myanmar's jails during an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and organising farmers to collect agricultural statistics.[5] Released from Katha Prison in 2008, he was arrested again less than 24 hours later.[7]

He was released from prison a third and final time on July 15, 2010.[8]

Win Htein was elected to the Pyithu Hluttaw seat of Meiktila Township, 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.[9]

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.[10][11]

Win Htein did not recontest his seat in the 2015 election.[1] He told the Financial Times 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 Mandalay's Obo Prison, purportedly for making remarks after the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.[12] He was found guilty of sedition, under Section 124(A) of the Myanmar Penal Code, 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.”[12]

He married Thein Myint Kyi and the couple has two sons and two daughter.[13]

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.[1] A brief hospitalisation in February 2016 led to widely circulated and false rumours of his death.[14]

• For more information on the Defence Services Academy (DSA) and more details on Win Htein’s life from his own account, please see his book published as eBook on 27 December 2021. "Win Htein’s Story for Posterity: Burma’s Odyssey from Tyranny to Quasi-Democracy" (1st ed.). Hsan Win Htein & T. Thandushka.