casting (red). Students at the Justus Liebig University (JLU) want to draw attention to the threats and persecution against writers and journalists. That’s why the young people founded the “Captive Word” initiative in 2008, which has long since developed into an association. In order to draw even more attention to individual fates, the indicator cooperates with the association and presents a case on the university website at the beginning of each month.
Today Dennis Klose reports on reporter Maung Maung Myo from Myanmar, who was sentenced to six years in prison last Friday.
As a freelance journalist, Myo has covered various political issues for the independent news agency Mekong News in Myanmar, including Covid-19 politics, anti-coup demonstrations and clashes between the military government and resistance groups.
Maung Maung Myo was arrested at a military checkpoint in Myanmar on May 10. He was on his way to cover armed clashes between the military and anti-junta resistance fighters. He was arrested after military government officials discovered that he had shared posts from the then-banned news agency Mekong News on his private Facebook profile.
The background to this is that Mekong News was banned by the military government after the coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021. After several office searches and threats from armed security forces, the news agency closed its offices on April 15, 2021.
After being arrested on May 10, Myo was held in Taung Kalay Prison. On Friday, July 29, he was sentenced to six years in prison by a court in Hpa-an. He was convicted of possessing images and interviews with members of the People’s Defense Forces, groups of resistance fighters against the military government.
Intend to appeal the verdict
According to the court, this violated Section 52a of Myanmar’s Anti-Terror Law. According to former Mekong News editor Nyan Linn Htet, Myo is in good health and intends to appeal the verdict. Maung Maung Myo is not the only journalist who has been detained by the military government for his reporting. At least two other Myanmar journalists met the same fate in July.
This reflects the state of press freedom in Myanmar. This deficit is illustrated even more impressively when you look at detention statistics from 2021: In December 2021, Myanmar was the second country with the most jailed journalists, with 26, only China topped this number. The state of press freedom in Myanmar remains worrying and there is no improvement in sight.
–
