U Gambira

Nyi Nyi Lwin (Burmese: ညီညီလွင်, MLCTS: Nyi Nyi Lwang; born 19 June 1979), more widely known by his monastic name U Gambira (Burmese: ရှင်ဂမ္ဘီရ), is a former Buddhist monk, activist and a leader of the All-Burma Monks' Alliance, a group which helped lead the 2007 protests against Burma's military government. Following the protests, he went into hiding and published two editorials critical of the Burmese government in The Washington Post and The Guardian on 4 November 2007. He was arrested the same day.

In November 2008, he was sentenced to 68 years in prison, including 12 years hard labour; the sentence was reduced to 65 years on appeal. Gambira reportedly protested his imprisonment by organising chanting with other imprisoned monks, boycotting his trial, and going on hunger strike. Human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch also protested his imprisonment.

Gambira was released during a mass pardon of prisoners on 13 January 2012 as part of the 2011–2012 Burmese political reforms. He ceased to be a monk in April 2012, stating that he had been unable to find a monastery to join due to his status as a former prisoner. He was re-arrested at least three times in 2012.

Gambira started attending school at age five, but the 1988 pro-democracy protests caused school closings that interrupted Gambira's schooling. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), he ran away from home at age 12 and was recruited as a child soldier by a military unit in Yangon. Once his brother and his friend located him, they removed him from the unit and returned with him to their home in Pauk Township. When the authorities came to investigate, Gambira's parents enrolled him in a local monastery to protect him from arrest or conscription into further military service.

Gambira first became well known in August 2007 during widespread protests against the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the military government which had ruled the country since suppressing the previous uprising in 1988. The protests were sparked when the SPDC cut fuel subsidies without warning, causing fuel and other commodity prices to suddenly rise.

The city's Buddhist monks took on a leadership role in these demonstrations, forming the All-Burma Monks' Alliance and lending the uprising its nickname of "the Saffron Revolution", after the colour of the monks' robes. Gambira, then a 29-year-old monk, became one of the new organisation's leaders. He later stated that the monks had been planning an uprising since 2003 or 2004. Because monks are revered in Burma's Buddhist-majority society, the government at first appeared reluctant to suppress their demonstrations.

On 24 September 2007, the All-Burma Monks' Alliance released a statement condemning the military government: "In order to banish the common enemy evil regime from Burmese soil forever, united masses of people need to join hands with the united clergy forces ... We pronounce the evil military despotism, which is impoverishing and pauperizing our people of all walks, including the clergy, as the common enemy of all our citizens." During the demonstrations, Gambira split his time between Mandalay and Yangon, moving between the two cities to avoid arrest.

After government forces violently broke up the protests, killing some monks and other protesters, Gambira went into hiding. His brother Aung Kyaw Kyaw was arrested on 17 October, in what the AAPP called an attempt by the government to force Gambira out of hiding. On 4 November, Gambira published editorials in The Washington Post and The Guardian calling for the international community to continue sanctions against Burma's leadership, for Russia and China to cease supporting the SPDC on the United Nations Security Council, and for Burma's people to continue to peacefully protest against the military rulers. "The regime's use of mass arrests, murder, torture and imprisonment has failed to extinguish our desire for the freedom that was stolen from us so many years ago. We have taken their best punch", he wrote in the Post. The day that the editorials appeared, Gambira was arrested in Sagaing Region. His father was arrested as well and detained in Mandalay prison for a month.