Kidnapped: How a Young Man Escaped Forcible Conscription in Myanmar

In early January, a young man working at a service company in Yangon was abducted by a group of people while he was on his way home. He was beaten, dragged into a car, and sold to military recruiters but managed to escape the following evening.

The military regime has trained nine batches of male conscripts since enacting the Conscription Law last February. The law triggered a mass exodus, creating a situation reminiscent of England in the 18th-19th centuries, when press gangs roamed the land.

Here the young man, whose identity The Irrawaddy has decided not to disclose for security reasons, recounts his experience.