Myanmar: Defamation threats against U Aung Myo Min
Event- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 5, 2018
- Event Description
On 7th May, it was brought to our attention that a post was uploaded on Facebook on 5th May by a Myanmar national inviting the Tatmadaw (or anyone else, for that matter) to pursue defamation charges against our Executive Director, U Aung Myo Min. The basis for such allegations is an article (Rights Groups Question Tatmadaw Chief's Denial of Sexual Violence) posted on 2nd May in The Irrawaddy where U Aung Myo Min - among other CSO leaders - commented on recent declarations made by S.G. Min Aung Hlaing to UNSC Envoys on acts of sexual violence committed by the Tatmadaw in the country and how the Tatmadaw has (or has not) handled these cases. With 22 people tagged, 24 reactions, 6 comments (all of them highly offensive) and 3 shares so far, we do consider this post as a serious threat, just not imminent. Considering the highly charged political environment in which we operate, all precautions are not enough. Some of you have expressed concerns about Sayar Myo's safety in the past so we thought you should be informed too. This is not the first time he receives serious threats - was declared "enemy of the faith" by Buddhist nationalists last year-. We will monitor this and other posts and offer updates. Please, do let us know if similar posts come to your attention so we can monitor them as well. A very rough translation of the post and the comments is attached. If anyone is interested to see the original post, i'd be happy to redirect individually. Not copying here due to privacy reasons.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Online Attack and Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- SOGI rights
- HRD
- NGO staff
- SOGI rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Summary for Publications
On 5 May 2018, U Aung Myo Min, the Executive Director of Equality Myanmar, was mentioned in a facebook post published by a Myanmar national inviting the Tatmadaw (or anyone else, for that matter) to pursue defamation charges against Myo Min. Many have posted insulting comments against Myo Min following this post.