Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009journalists in prison: burmaAung Kyaw San, editor-in-chief ofthe Myanmar Tribune, was arrestedin Rangoon along with 15 others returninprison on three separate counts ofviolating the Electronic Act. Six dayslater, the court added 14 years to histerm after convicting him on chargesof communicating with exiled dissidentsand causing public alarm ininterviews with foreign media, hisdefense lawyer, Khin Htay Kywe, toldThe Associated Press. The sentencewas later reduced to a total of 35 yearsby the Rangoon Divisional Court.Maung Thura had been detained onseveral occasions in the past, includingin September 2007 for helping Buddhistmonks during antigovernmentprotests, according to the exile-runpress freedom group Burma Media Association.He had maintained a blog,Zarganar-windoor, which his supporterscontinued to update in 2009.The Democratic Voice of Burma reportedthat Maung Thura had beentransferred to a remote location, MyintkyinarPrison in Kachin state, in December2008, where he was reported in poorhealth. His sister-in-law, Ma Nyein, toldIrawaddy that the journalist sufferedfrom hypertension and jaundice.Zaw Thet Htwe, freelanceIMPRISONED: June 13, 2008Police arrested Rangoon-based freelancejournalist Zaw Thet Htwe onJune 13, 2008, in the town of Minbu,where he was visiting his mother,Agence France-Presse reported. Thesportswriter had been working withcomedian-blogger Maung Thura in deliveringaid to victims of Cyclone Nar-gis and videotaping the relief effort.The journalist, who formerly editedthe popular sports newspaper FirstEleven, was indicted in a closed tribunalon August 7, 2008, and was triedalong with Maung Thura and two activists,AFP reported. The group facedmultiple charges, including violatingthe Video Act and Electronic Act, disruptingpublic order, and unlawful association,news reports said.The Thailand-based AssistanceAssociation for Political Prisoners inBurma said police confiscated a computerand cell phone during a raid onZaw Thet Htwe’s Rangoon home.In November 2008, Zaw ThetHtwe was sentenced to a total of 19years in prison on charges of violatingthe Electronic Act, according to theMizzima news agency. The RangoonDivisional Court later reduced theprison term to 11 years, Mizzima reported.He was put in Taunggyi Prisonin Shan state in 2009.Zaw Thet Htwe had been arrestedbefore, in 2003, and given the deathsentence for plotting to overthrow thegovernment, news reports said. Thesentence was later commuted. AFPreported that the 2003 arrest was relatedto a story he published about amisappropriated football grant.Aung Kyaw San, Myanmar TribuneIMPRISONED: June 15, 2008ing from relief activities in the IrrawaddyDelta region, which was devastated byCyclone Nargis, according to the Thailand-basedAssistance Association forPolitical Prisoners in Burma (AAPPB)and the Mizzima news agency.Photographs that Aung Kyaw Sanhad taken of cyclone victims appearedon some Web sites, according to theBurma Media Association, a pressfreedom group run by exiled journalists.Authorities closed the Burmeselanguageweekly after his arrest anddid not allow his family visitationrights, according to the association.On April 10, 2009, a special court inInsein Prison sentenced him to twoyears’ imprisonment for unlawful association,Mizzima reported.Aung Kyaw San was formerly jailed in1990 and held for more than three yearsfor activities with the country’s pro-democracymovement, AAPPB said.“T,” Democratic Voice of BurmaIMPRISONED: July 2009The video journalist known publicly as“T” reported news for the Oslo-basedmedia organization Democratic Voiceof Burma. He was one of two cameramenon an award-winning internationaldocumentary, “Orphans of the BurmeseCyclone,” according to news reports.The Rory Peck Trust announced thearrest on November 18 as it honored“T” and his Burmese colleague, “Z,”with the Rory Peck Award for Featuresfor their work on the documentary.The independent U.K.-based RoryPeck Trust supports freelance journalists.It said “T” had been arrested fourmonths earlier and had recently beencharged under the Electronic Act withfilming without government permission.Khin Maung Win, deputy executivedirector of the Democratic Voice ofBurma, confirmed the arrest in a November30 report on the organization’sWeb site. He said “Z” was in hiding.“T” was arrested as he left an Internetcafé in Rangoon six months aftercompleting the documentary, accordingto the U.K.-based The Independent.The exact date was not reported.He was being held in Insein Prison,according to The Independent. “ T ”faced a jail sentence of 10 to 15 years,news reports said.Thant Zin Soe, Foreign AffairsIMPRISONED: October 27, 2009Police and military intelligence officialsarrested Thant Zin Soe, aneditor and translator at the newsweeklyForeign Affairs, at his homein Rangoon, according to the exilerungroups Assistance Associationfor Political Prisoners in Burma andBurma Media Association.Thant Zin Soe was also a memberof the Lin Let Kye (Shining Star)volunteer relief group, which providedunsanctioned relief to Cyclone Nargissurvivors and has been targeted byauthorities for persecution. No formalcharges had been filed against him byDecember 1, according to the groups.He was being held at the Aung Thabye294295