In an exclusive interview with The Observer , the 27-year-old Briton told for the first time how he was deprived of human rights.
Mawdsley, a physics student who dropped out of Bristol University after one year despite being tipped for a double first, described how he was kept under 24-hour observation in a cell flooded with light and beaten by guards with truncheons and gravel-filled stockings.
He told how, on one occasion, 15 guards burst into his room after he had written the Burmese word for 'peace' on his cell door in water and illustrated it with the symbol of a cross. They left him semi-conscious in a pool of blood.
But he said that every privation was worth the pain if it helped the country escape the military dictatorship that has ruled since Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National League for Democracy, was prevented from taking office after winning a 1990 election.
Emotional and weary after his 36-hour journey from the remote Keng Tung prison, Mawdsley arrived back home in Britain in the early hours of yesterday morning to adulation and applause.
He said that he had been 'absolutely delighted' when the Burmese court had condemned him to 17 years in jail in August 1999.
It was the third time in two years that the human rights activist had been arrested in Burma for trying to highlight the genocide of 30,000 members of the Karenni tribe and displacement of 600,000 more.
He had been 'frustrated', he said, when deported in 1998, but felt that he was 'finally getting somewhere' when he was imprisoned after returning a few months later without a passport. He was then sentenced to five years' solitary confinement, but told The Observer that he had been disappointed to be deported again after 99 days.
'I'm drawn to Burma not by the suffering, but by the Karenni people and their strength despite the relentless oppression. By returning to Burma for the third time and getting the staggeringly hysterical sentence of 17 years, I finally managed to highlight the madness of the regime,' he said. 'Getting released after 15 months has shown that the international community can move the junta if they put their mind to it.'
The deeply religious Roman Catholic pledged to continue the fight from outside the country. 'My strength came from St Paul,' he said. 'God was protecting me every moment, down to the most absurd details and in the most unpredictable ways.'
Mawdsley believed his action had been a success in terms of bringing the troubles of the people in Burma to international attention. 'I've shown that this is an incredibly powerful and worthwhile form of protest, but if anyone needs encouragement to go out and do what I did, they shouldn't go,' he said. 'You need to, despite family and friends saying: "You're crazy".'
