Associated Press
- A Myanmar poet died after being detained and interrogated, Reuters reported.
- Khet Thi's wife says his organs were also removed.
- Thi was vocal against the military, which staged a coup in February.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
A Myanmar poet died in detention and his family said his body was returned with missing organs, Reuters reported.
Khet Thi, whose works declare resistance to the ruling junta, and his wife were taken for interrogation on Saturday by armed soldiers and police. While his wife Chaw Su returned, Thi never went home. His body was returned on Sunday.
"They called me in the morning and told me to meet him at the hospital in Monywa. I thought it was just for a broken arm or something … But when I arrived here, he was at the morgue and his internal organs were taken out," Su told BBC Burmese language news.
They were taken from the central town of Shwebo, in the Sagaing region. The region has been the center of protests against a military coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi in February.
Myanmar's military, known as the Tatmadaw, took over on February 1, claiming there was mass voter fraud during the country's November elections.
An independent election committee, however, reviewed the claims and found them to be baseless.
Thi opposed the military and had penned the phrase: "They shoot in the head, but they don't know the revolution is in the heart."
Su told the BBC that she was told that Thi had a heart problem when she went to the hospital but said she didn't bother reading the death certificate because she was sure it would be a lie.
She did not say how she knew Thi's organs were removed but said she pleaded for his body after the army said it would bury him.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group said Thi "died at the hospital after being tortured in the interrogation centre."
Thi is the third poet to die during the protests to the coup.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners has estimated that as of Sunday, 780 civilians have been killed since the coup began and 4,899 have been arrested.