Myanmar / Asia

Bangkok, February 8, 2022 – Myanmar military authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Thurin Kyaw and drop any charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On February 2, Thurin Kyaw, founder of the independent outlet Media TOP 4, was beaten by unidentified attackers while he covered a rally in support of the ruling military…

One year since a democracy-suspending coup, press freedom is dying in Myanmar. A military campaign of intimidation, censorship, arrests, and detentions of journalists has more recently graduated to outright killing, an escalation of repression that aims ultimately to stop independent media reporting on the junta’s crimes and abuses. In January, military authorities abducted local news…

Bangkok, January 31, 2022 – Myanmar authorities should scrap proposed cybersecurity legislation that would severely threaten press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. In a letter dated January 13, Myanmar’s Ministry of Transport and Communications, controlled by the country’s military since the February 2021 coup, stated that a decision had been made to…

Bangkok, January 20, 2022 – Myanmar authorities must immediately release the three recently arrested employees of the Dawei Watch news website and cease detaining members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. During the night of January 18 to 19, authorities arrested Dawei Watch reporters Ko Zaw and Ma Moe Myint and web…

By Jennifer Dunham/CPJ Deputy Editorial Director Published January 19, 2022 At least 28 journalists were killed due to their work in 2021, with India and Mexico topping the list of countries with the most media worker deaths, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ final data for the year. Of the total – which has…

Bangkok, January 14, 2022 – Myanmar authorities must immediately stop all attacks on the press, ensure that members of the media are not killed for their work, and thoroughly prosecute all journalist killings, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On December 25, 2021, journalist Sai Win Aung, also known as A Sai K, was…

Bangkok, December 15, 2021 ­– Myanmar authorities must immediately disclose the status of freelance photographer Soe Naing amid reports he died in detention, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Soldiers took Soe Naing into custody on December 10 after he photographed a protest in Yangon against the country’s military junta government, according to reports…

Bangkok, December 14, 2021 – Myanmar authorities must immediately release Democratic Voice of Burma reporter Aung San Lin and drop any charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At around midnight on December 11, about 20 soldiers raided Aung San Lin’s home in the village of Pin Zin, in the northwestern region…

Bangkok, December 13, 2021 – Myanmar authorities should release three Kanbawza Tai News journalists recently sentenced to prison for their work and drop all charges against them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On December 10, a court at the Nyaung Shwe Taung Lay Lone Prison, in Shan state, sentenced editor Nang Nang Tai,…

Editor’s note: Numbers for each prison census are adjusted yearly as CPJ learns of arrests, releases, or deaths in prison. The numbers for CPJ’s 2021 census have been revised from 293 to 302 in accordance with this policy. For the most recent data, see cpj.org/data/imprisoned/ The number of journalists jailed around the world set another record…