Mya Aye

Mya Aye is a Burmese activist who has lived a life of imprisonment and resistance. His first act of defiance as a student leader in the 1988 protest movement resulted in his imprisonment for eight years. After being released, Mya Aye continued to be involved in protests and activism, becoming a leader within the 88 Generation Students Group. His involvement in this group led to him being arrested again in the lead-up to the 2007 Saffron Revolution, this time for 65 and a half years. While in prison, he smuggled in two cats - Lay Pyay, meaning Breeze, and Lay Hnyin, meaning Flurry - into his cell for emotional support. Upon being freed alongside many of the other activists in 2012 with the advent of democratic reforms, Mya Aye once again continued his work in democratic activism. He planned to run for political office in 2015, although he was ultimately denied candidacy by the National League for Democracy. Instead, Mya Aye returned to his home with his mother, wife, daughter, and 37 cats.

When Mya Aye heard rumors of a coming military coup before it was launched, he chose to remain at his home in Myanmar due to fears of what authorities would do with his family if he suddenly left. He was taken from his home before the coup was officially announced and sentenced to two years in Insein Prison on his 56th birthday. Mya Aye was arrested for violating the section of the Penal Code concerning “inciting hate towards an ethnicity or a community.” The charge was derived from an email sent by Mya Aye to a Chinese official in which Mya Aye criticized Burmese ultranationalism and government propaganda. Mya Aye was released from Insein Prison on November 17, 2022, as part of a mass amnesty from Myanmar’s junta. He has stated that he plans to continue his democratic activism post-release.