James Mawdsley returned home to Britain at the end 2000 having endured fourteen months of solitary confinement and torture in a Burmese prison. Sentenced to seventeen years imprisonment for his protests against the brutal military regime of the junta, this was not Mawdsley’s first time to be captured. Mawdsley describes how he came to leave university and the promise of academic success to pursue something more purposeful. He rejects any claim of heroism or bravery and instead reflects on his motives, his ability to survive such isolation and terror – how he discovered a kind of spiritual solace and peace despite his terrifying situation – and what now lies ahead, both for himself and for the people of Burma.
As a human rights activist, James Mawdsley wrote a book on the oppressive military junta in Burma.
