Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009journalists in prison: burmaating in border areas, according to theAssistance Association for PoliticalPrisoners in Burma, a prisoner assistancegroup based in Thailand.It was the second time that Burma’smilitary government had imprisonedthe well-known journalist, also knownas Win Shwe, on charges related todisseminating information to newssources outside of Burma. In 1989, amilitary tribunal sentenced Ne Min to14 years of hard labor for “spreadingfalse news and rumors to the BBC tofan further disturbances in the country”and “possession of documentsincluding antigovernment literature,which he planned to send to the BBC,”according to official radio reports. Heserved nine years at Rangoon’s InseinPrison before being released in 1998.Exiled Burmese journalists whospoke with CPJ said that Ne Min hadprovided news to political groups andexile-run news publications before hissecond arrest in February 2004.Nay Phone Latt (Nay Myo Kyaw)FreelanceIMPRISONED: January 29, 2008Nay Phone Latt, a businessman alsoknown as Nay Myo Kyaw, wrote ablog and owned three Internet cafésin Rangoon. He went missing on themorning of January 29, 2008, accordingto exile-run news groups.The New Delhi-based Mizzimanews agency reported that police haddetained Nay Phone Latt at an Internetcafé. The journalist, whose Website offered perspectives on Burmeseyouth, had been a youth member ofthe opposition group National Leaguefor Democracy, Reuters said.A court charged Nay Phone Latt inJuly 2008 with causing public offenseand violating video and electronic lawswhen he posted caricatures of rulinggenerals on his blog, according to Reuters.He was being held at the time inInsein Prison, according to a joint reportby the Assistance Association forPolitical Prisoners in Burma and theU.S. Campaign for Burma.During closed judicial proceedingsheld at the Insein compoundon November 10, 2008, Nay PhoneLatt was sentenced on several countsunder the penal code to a total of 20years and six months in prison, accordingto the Burma Media Association,a press freedom advocacy group,and news reports. In late 2008, he wastransferred to Pa-an Prison in Karenstate, news reports said.In February 2009, the Rangoon DivisionalCourt commuted the sentenceto a total of 12 years. Nay Phone Latt’slawyers continued to challenge the convictionand appeared before the HighCourt on June 22, according to Mizzima.The court turned back the appeal.Sein Win MaungMyanmar NationIMPRISONED: February 15, 2008Police conducting a raid on the officesof the weekly Myanmar Nation arrestededitor Thet Zin and managerSein Win Maung, according to localand international news reports. Policealso seized the journalists’ cell phones,footage of monk-led antigovernmentdemonstrations that took placein Burma in September 2007, and areport by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, U.N.special rapporteur for human rightsin Burma, according to Aung Din,director of the Washington-basedU.S. Campaign for Burma. The reportdetailed killings associated with themilitary government’s crackdown onthe 2007 demonstrators.The New Delhi-based Mizzimanews agency cited family membersas saying that the two were first detainedin the Thingangyun Townshippolice station before being chargedwith illegal printing and publishingon February 25.On November 28, 2008, a closedcourt at the Insein Prison compoundsentenced each to seven years in prison.Police ordered Myanmar Nation’sstaff to stop publishing temporarily,according to the Burma Media Association,a press freedom advocacygroup with representatives in Bangkok.The news Web site Irrawaddy saidthe newspaper was allowed to resumepublishing in March 2008; by Octoberof that year, exile-run groups said,the journal had shut down for lack ofleadership.Thet Zin was among 7,000 prisonersreleased as part of a government amnestyon September 17, 2009, according to internationalnews reports. His colleagueremained behind bars in late year.Maung Thura (Zarganar), freelanceIMPRISONED: June 4, 2008Police arrested Maung Thura, a wellknowncomedian who used the onlineand stage name Zarganar, or “Tweezers,”at his home in Rangoon, accordingto news reports. The police alsoseized electronic equipment at thetime of the arrest, according to AgenceFrance-Presse.Maung Thura had mobilized hundredsof entertainers to help survivorsof Cyclone Nargis, which devastatedRangoon and much of the IrrawaddyDelta in May 2008. His footageof relief work in hard-hit areas wascirculated on DVD and on the Internet.Photographs and DVD footageof the aftermath of the disaster wereamong the items police confiscatedat the time of his arrest, according tothe Assistance Association for PoliticalPrisoners in Burma and the U.S.Campaign for Burma.In the week he was detained, MaungThura gave several interviews to overseas-basednews outlets, including theBBC, criticizing the military junta’s responseto the disaster. The day after hisarrest, state-controlled media publishedwarnings against sending video footageof relief work to foreign news agencies.During closed proceedings in August2008 at Insein Prison in Rangoon,the comedian was indicted on atleast seven charges, according to internationalnews reports.On November 21, 2008, the courtsentenced Maung Thura to 45 years292293