In 2021, Myanmar journalists risked their lives to tell the story of the coup Military news

On March 8, journalists Nathan Maung and Hanthar Nyein went to the Yangon office in Myanmar’s largest city to retrieve some equipment, fearing that the country’s new military authorities would soon order a crackdown on Kamayut Media. created by men together.

“We thought they would search the office in the evening or at night. If we had 30 more minutes we could have escaped, ”said Maung, a U.S.-born citizen of Myanmar.

“No one explained anything. They asked for my name and age, took a picture, put a blindfold on our head, got into a police car and drove for 30 minutes. And then our torture began, ”he said.

Maung said security forces covered his eyes hit him hard in the first three or four days. He was not allowed to sleep or be eaten, and the blows were reduced after learning that he was a U.S. citizen. He was stripped of his eye bandage after eight days.

The 44-year-old man spent three months in the famous Insein prison in Yangon. released.

Hanthar Nyein, who turned 40 on Christmas Day, remains in custody.

“It simply came to our notice then [spending] his 40th birthday in prison is very hard for me and his family. He has not yet seen the face of his nephew, who was born in April, ”Maung said.

The journalist was killed

The pair were among more than 100 journalists arrested by the Myanmar military on February 1 after taking power, citing fraud in the November 2020 National League for Democracy (NLD) return to power. The coup provoked mass protests, and the army continued to use lethal force, killing hundreds of people and eventually leading to an armed uprising against its authority.

During this collapse of society, journalists in Myanmar have risked their lives and their freedom to document human rights violations committed by the military.

Dec. 14, freelance photographer Soe Naing he was the first journalist to be killed in a coup d’état, allegedly killed in a “violent interrogation” by military guards.

It has also been Myanmar classified the second worst prison for journalists in the world this year, after only China, confirmed in prison on December 26.

“This overall situation is even more serious than what is suggested,” said the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the group behind the rankings.

“Many journalists, including American Danny Fenster, were released before the census count after months in prison, and CPJ’s investigation suggests that others in prison may remain unidentified as journalists.”

Fenster, who was working for Frontier Myanmar magazine, was arrested in March released in November, sentenced to 11 years in prison and pardoned for a few days.

Among the other foreign journalists arrested and released is a Polish journalist Robert Bociaga, was protesting in Shan State in March and was deported two weeks later.

But local journalists are out of luck.

This month, three journalists from Kanbawza Tai News in Shan State were present punished a three-year prison sentence under Article 505 (a) of the Myanmar Penal Code, according to an indictment of a prey that the military has identified as a weapon of choice against activists and journalists.

Cape Diamond, a Yangon-based journalist from Myanmar who is self-employed in international outlets, said journalists at local media outlets are at greater risk.

“The outside world doesn’t think they are important. I don’t really mention their names, but they are to be commended, ”he said.

‘Fragile progress’

The February coup has overturned Myanmar’s fragile transition to democracy, which began in 2015 with multi-party elections, after nearly five decades of military rule. Before taking power, the country took temporary steps on press freedom, but journalists still had many restrictions.

“We have never had press freedom in Myanmar. Sure, we had a bit of flexibility, but that wasn’t freedom, ”Diamond said, noting that several journalists were arrested and tried in the NLD government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The most famous examples are Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two Reuters journalists who were jailed in 2017 in Rakhine State for exposing a military massacre against Rohingya. Aung San Suu Kyi was attacked internationally when she defended repression against military groups of Muslim minorities. counter-insurgency as a legitimate operation, while human rights groups have called it genocide.

He also personally defended the arrests of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in September 2018. insisting they were not imprisoned because they were journalists. ”

He has asked people to read the court’s verdict, and he pleaded not guilty even though he was horribly beaten in court by a police officer. accepted reporters were created.

Although Myanmar’s press freedom was deteriorating before the coup, “now it is clear that we have no flexibility,” Diamond said.

The Guardian Without Borders (RSF) guard also said that the military’s takeover “has suddenly put an end to this fragile progress and has delayed the Myanmar journalist by 10 years”.

‘They don’t know about us’

Nowadays, journalists are being subjected to more and more violence by a military man who is making little effort to separate the media from his political opponents. In addition to the arrests and torture in custody, several journalists have been injured while protesting.

In March, a Myanmar Frontier journalist was shot dead while covering a protest in Mandalay. In December, two journalists were injured, one seriously, when a soldier struck a truck on a small group of peaceful protesters in Yangon, killing five.

“They don’t care if you’re a journalist or a protester,” Diamond said, recalling that he was covering up another protest on the flash mob that escaped.

“When they dispersed everyone was running, we jumped in our car and the Special Offices dressed in street clothes followed us and our car number was written down. So we had to keep a low profile and not go out for a few days and keep the car inside for a few weeks, ”he said.

Diamond said journalists cannot carry a camera because it turns them into targets. They also need to be careful with random checkpoints throughout the city as well as night raids. The military re-enacted laws requiring families to register night guests, but many politically sensitive individuals in hiding have refused to do so, extending it to more legal threats.

When he was arrested, Maung Kamayut, the editor-in-chief of Media, said he was shocked that security forces knew little about him and journalism in general.

“They arrested us and they don’t know about us. Military intelligence knew everything was completely different from the time of Khin Nyunt, Maung said, referring to the former military government’s spy master.

Maung said his questioners repeatedly asked him about foreign funding and were particularly angry with a Reuters article posted by Kamayut on his website. He had to explain the concept of wire service to them.

Diamond said he had two “close colleagues” who were arrested and released after the coup, but declined to be identified. Although he was also asked about foreign funding, most journalists were “asked if they were connected to the armed resistance,” he said, referring to the “Civil Defense War” declared by the parallel civilian government in Myanmar in August. dismissed legislators.

A loose militia network called the People’s Defense Forces (PDF) has pledged allegiance to the National Union Government (NUG) and often cooperates with more established ethnic armed organizations that have been fighting for greater political autonomy for decades. The military has declared NUG and PDF terrorist organizations.

BBC Media Action producer Htet Htet Khine was arrested in August charge According to the Illegal Association Act, for allegedly communicating with the NUG. He stays behind bars.

The military has come under heavy pressure to release dozens of journalists arrested as a result of the coup. In October, when the military was excluded from a meeting of the regional bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, released Some 5,000 people have been arrested in protest of the coup, including 13 media workers.

Maung tries to be hopeful that Hanthar Nyein may be among the next detainees to receive a pardon, but she doesn’t know when it will be.

“Maybe before Christmas?” he said, speaking on December 17th. “Burma Independence Day? Maybe tomorrow or tomorrow. ‘