Myanmar journalist Aung Lwin, a contributor to news website Dawei Watch, is serving a five-year sentence for terrorism, a charge Myanmar’s military regime has used broadly to stifle independent news reporting since staging a democracy-suspending coup in 2021.
Aung Lwin, also known as Kan Pauk Thar, was arrested on April 8, 2022, in Dawei along with five other people, according to Dawei Watch editor-in-chief Thu Rein Hlaing. Thu Rein Hlaing told CPJ by email that Aung Lwin reports for Dawei Watch on politics, human rights, and corruption.
The journalist’s arrest came in the wake of the military’s February 1, 2021, coup and subsequent protests. Since then, the military junta has engaged in an ongoing crackdown on Myanmar’s independent media, detaining and sentencing dozens of journalists.
On December 29, 2022, a court in the southeastern city of Dawei sentenced Aung Lwin to five years in prison under Article 52(a) of the Counter Terrorism Law, according to a Dawei Watch report and Thu Rein Hlaing. Aung Lwin had no plan to appeal his conviction, Thu Rein Hlaing told CPJ in October 2023.
Thu Rein Hlaing said Aung Lwin was being held at Dawei Prison in 2024 and suffered from chronic back pain that required regular medical treatment at a local public hospital.
The regime has taken harsh action against journalists at Dawei Watch, which covers news in southern Myanmar. In 2024, Dawei Watch journalist Aung San Oo and chief editor Myo Myint Oo were sentenced on terrorism charges to 20 years and life, respectively, by a military court in Myeik Prison. The reporters were beaten during interrogations and denied legal counsel, a Dawei Watch statement said.
Four other Dawei Watch staff have been arrested since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Information did not reply to CPJ’s late 2024 emailed request for comment on Aung Lwin’s conviction, health and treatment in prison.