On 6 June 2011, Ms. Hnin May Aung, also known as Noble Aye, member of All Birma Student Federation Union (ABSFU) and 88 Generation Students, wrote an open letter, addressed to Thein Sein, strongly denouncing statements made on 2 June 2011 by Vice President U Tin Aung Myint Oo to US Senator John McCain that there are no political prisoners in Myanmar. She is serving an 11-year sentence in the remote Monywa prison on Sagaing Region, 832 km from Yangon where her family lives. In the letter, she explains her imprisonment and arrest history to contest this statement and show that she is a genuine political prisoner. Ms. Hnin May Aung's father attempted to visit her on 7 July 2011, but was told by the warden of the jail and an intelligence officer that her family visits have been banned as per instructions from prison supervisors, because Ms. Hnin May Aung had violated the prison's regulation. While Ms. Hnin May Aung's father was waiting at Monywa jail to receive further clarification, he heard his daughter screaming "Mother! Mother!" causing him extreme distress. When he asked the warden why she was screaming, the warden responded maybe it was because her family visits have been banned. According to her mother, Aye Myint Than, the warden did not explain which rule she broke. Her father was also unable to deliver a package of supplementary food and medication. Ms. Hnin May Aung was initially arrested in September 1998 for distributing booklets explaining the military regime's crackdown on the 1996 student movement. In January 1999, she received a 42 year sentence, under section 5/j of the Emergency Provision Act and section 17/20 of the Printers and Publishers Act. Ms. Hnin May Aung was released under a general prisoner amnesty on 6 July 2005. Upon her release, she was told she could participate in political activities. She was re-arrested in a midnight raid on her home on 23 August 2007. Although authorities were originally looking for a woman named "Noe Noe," once they learnt of Ms. Hnin May Aung's political background, they refused to release her. She was charged under section 5/96 (4) of the law protecting the peaceful and systematic transfer of state responsibility, section 505/b of the penal code, and section 6 of the law relating to the forming of organizations. Ms. Hnin May Aung suffers from jaundice since before her sentence at Monywa prison.