On 21 April, Myanmar youths launched a Blue Shirt Campaign on the 8 th anniversary of the death of Hanthawady U Win Tin, the former political prisoner, journalist, poet and founding member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) political party.

As a journalist he was critical of the Myanmar government.

In 1989 U Win Thin was imprisoned by the military government of the time on trumped-up charges and accused of being a communist. Initially he was sentenced to seven years in prison, but he was kept in prison under legislation that allowed detention without charge or trial. He eventually served 19 years in prison and was not released until 2008, when he was 78 years old.

Whilst in prison he was often tortured, both mentally and physically. For instance, he was not given proper access to medical treatment and was often deprived of food and water for long periods of
time and was held in a long time in a cell designed for military dogs without any bedding.

After his release from prison he vowed to wear his prison uniform of a blue shirt and longyi until all political prisoners were released. He said: “If there are no political prisoners … I will take off my shirt,
but then, until now, I haven’t seen good indications.”

The authorities even threatened to throw him back into prison if he did not stop wearing blue shirts, but he refused and fortunately was not imprisoned again.

On 21 April this year people joined the online Blue Shirt Campaign. They started wearing blue shirts and demanding the release of all political prisoners, including the former State Counsellor, Aung San
Suu Kyi.

In protests across Myanmar many people were seen wearing blue shirts and shouting various slogans like: “The nation has no reason to thank or appreciate the military regime.”

U Win Thin died on 21 April 2014 in Yangon at 85 years of age.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), since the military coup on 1 February 2021, 10, 271 people have been imprisoned as political prisoners. Of those, 996 have been sentenced and 9,275 are still awaiting their trials.