Myanmar: media worker handed down 10-year sentence
Event- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 30, 2022
- Event Description
In December, Myanmar courts sentenced at least eight independent journalists to prison terms ranging from three to 10 years, according to news reports and journalists who spoke to CPJ.
Separately, on January 4, junta authorities released at least six jailed journalists as part of a wider amnesty of over 7,000 prisoners to mark the nation’s Independence Day, according to news reports, a database compiled by the local rights group Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP), and a separate database compiled by the Detained Journalists Information Myanmar private Facebook group, which was shared with CPJ via email.
Myanmar ranked as the world’s third worst jailer of journalists, with 42 behind bars when CPJ conducted its annual prison census on December 1, 2022.
“Myanmar’s cruel carousel of jailing, sentencing, and granting early release to journalists is a form of psychological warfare aimed at breaking the will of independent journalists and media outlets,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Authorities must immediately cease treating members of the press as criminals and should release all reporters held in custody for their work.”
And on December 30, a court in Yangon sentenced Thurein Kyaw, founder and publisher of the independent outlet Media Top 4, to 10 years in prison with hard labor under Article 49(a) of the Counter Terrorism Law, according to news reports. Thurein Kyaw was beaten by unidentified attackers and initially detained on February 3, 2022, while covering a rally in support of the military junta in Yangon, according to news reports and photographs of his injuries circulated online.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression
- Offline
- Right to liberty and security
- Freedom of expression
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 16.820432283426733
Longitude: 96.21434056238327
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 30 December 2022, Thurein Kyaw, independent media worker, was handed down a 10-year sentence on terrorism charges by a court in Yangon, Myanmar.