Myanmar junta raids Rakhine State news agency, arrests journalist
Bangkok, November 3, 2023—Myanmar’s military regime must immediately release Rakhine State journalist Htet Aung and allow the independent Development Media Group news agency to operate freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On Sunday, soldiers arrested Development Media Group reporter Htet Aung while he was taking photos of soldiers making donations to Buddhist monks…
Haiti joins list of countries where killers of journalists most likely to go unpunished
By Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director The persistent lack of justice for murdered reporters is a major threat to press freedom. Ten years after the United Nations declared an international day to end impunity for crimes against journalists – and more than 30 years after CPJ began documenting these killings – almost 80% of their killings…
Myanmar Now photojournalist Sai Zaw Thaike sentenced to 20 years in prison on multiple charges
Bangkok, September 6, 2023—Myanmar authorities should release photojournalist Sai Zaw Thaike and stop imprisoning members of the press for doing their jobs, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On Wednesday, September 6, a military tribunal in Yangon’s Insein Prison sentenced Sai Zaw Thaike to 20 years in prison with hard labor on various charges,…
Myanmar sentences The Irrawaddy publisher Thaung Win to 5 years prison for sedition
Bangkok, July 3, 2023 – Myanmar’s military authorities must immediately release Thaung Win, stop persecuting journalists for their work, and let the independent news outlet The Irrawaddy operate freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On June 28, the Western Yangon District Court sentenced Thaung Win, The Irrawaddy’s publisher, to five years in prison…
Myanmar military revokes media license of Ayeyarwaddy Times
Bangkok, June 16, 2023—Myanmar’s junta regime should reverse the ban imposed on the Ayeyarwaddy Times and stop harassing local media groups over their independent news coverage, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On June 10, Myanmar military authorities revoked the Ayeyarwaddy Times’ media license for allegedly breaching Article 8 of the Publishing Act, which…
Imprisoned Myanmar journalist sentenced to additional 10 years on terror charge
Bangkok, May 30, 2023—Myanmar authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Hmu Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun and stop imprisoning members of the press for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On May 26, Yangon’s Thingangyun District Court convicted Moh Moh Tun, a reporter for the independent Myanmar Pressphoto Agency, and sentenced her to 10 years…
More than 15 years after his killing in Myanmar, journalist Kenji Nagai’s camera returned to family
Bangkok, April 26, 2023–More than 15 years after Japanese photojournalist Kenji Nagai was shot and killed on the streets of Yangon, Myanmar, while filming the 2007 Saffron Revolution political protests, the camera he held at the time of his death has finally been returned to his family. At a press conference Wednesday, April 26, at…
On 2-year anniversary of military coup, Myanmar’s junta must stop persecuting journalists
Bangkok, February 1, 2023 — On the second anniversary of the military’s seizure of power in Myanmar, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement demanding the junta regime immediately and unconditionally release all of the journalists targeted in the post-coup crackdown: “Over the last two years, press freedom conditions in Myanmar have deteriorated…
Myanmar sentences 8 journalists to years in prison, releases 6 others
Bangkok, January 11, 2023 – Myanmar’s military regime must stop arbitrarily imprisoning journalists and should allow independent media groups to report the news without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. In December, Myanmar courts sentenced at least eight independent journalists to prison terms ranging from three to 10 years, according to…
Forensic tools open new front for using phone data to prosecute journalists
On April 13, police in Russia’s Khakassiya republic arrested Mikhail Afanasyev and seized his digital devices. Afanasyev, chief editor of the online magazine Novy Fokus, was detained based on an article about riot police in southern Siberia refusing to serve in Ukraine. He faces a possible 10-year prison sentence for spreading “false” information. It’s not surprising for…