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A self-employed photojournalist in Myanmar has died in military custody after being arrested last week while reporting protests, his colleagues and a family friend have reported.
Ko Soe Naing is the first journalist to be arrested since the army took power in February, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. More than 100 journalists have been arrested since then, though about half have been released.
Koe Soe Naing, a graphic designer as well as a freelance journalist, was arrested on Friday while she and a colleague were taking pictures in Yangon City. called a “silent strike” by opponents of military rule..
It was the biggest nationwide protest in several months, and the streets were almost empty as people responded to a call to stay home and close the company for six hours.
Ko Soe Naing is not the first detainee to die in government custody. It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post.
In several cases where the bodies could be seen, human rights activists said they had marks suggesting that individuals had been tortured.
Journalists have mostly been the target of the arrest, as the military-installed government has sought to curb the free flow of information. In addition to arresting media workers, many outlets have been forced to close or operate underground, with workers always at risk of arrest.
Ko Soe Naing and her colleagues have been reporting on the Myanmar crisis for months, with anti-military protests and savage repression by security forces sometimes received by foreign news agencies.
‘Terrible Death’
After his arrest, Ko Soe Naing was sent to a military interrogation center in the eastern Botahtaung municipality of Yangon, according to colleagues familiar with his case.
His family was informed on Tuesday morning that he had died at the 1,000-bed General Defense Service Hospital in Yangon Mingalado, a colleague and a family member told the Associated Press (AP) on condition of anonymity. may make the information a target for arrest.
His body was reportedly cremated the same day at Yay Way Cemetery in Yangon, North Okkalapa Township, family friends said, and were not told if he saw the body.
The Irrawaddy news website quoted a source as saying that Ko Soe Naing was “in good health” until her death was reported.
Since the army took over, interrogation centers across Myanmar have been increasingly using torture against detainees, an AP investigation has revealed.
Many of the centers were built and used during the former military rule, while others were set up in military bases or even community buildings.
????HAUSTEN????????#Myamnar: #RSF Autonomous photojournalist Soe Naing, who was abducted by the military on Friday while covering a silent protest in Yangon on Friday, has been arrested this morning after a violent interrogation. There are 53 journalists in prison.#What HappensMyanmar pic.twitter.com/ur1BEYGypU
– RSF (@RSF_inter) December 14, 2021
An army deserter told the AP that he had seen soldiers being tortured to death by two prisoners at a mountaineering interrogation center inside a Chinese state army base.
Reporters Without Borders tweeted that the Paris-based press freedom organization “was horrified to learn that self-employed photojournalist Soe Naing – who was being held hostage by the military on Friday in a silent protest in Yangon – had been arrested this morning.”
Ko Soe Naing, his wife, was unable to contact her, leaving a four-year-old son. The current situation of the photographer arrested with him was unknown.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Tuesday called on Aung San Lin, a Burmese Democratic Voice journalist, to immediately release a broadcast and online service.
He was arrested on December 11 after a report alleging that soldiers had set fire to the homes of three supporters of the Aung San Suu Kyi party.
On Monday, the New York organization asked authorities to release three Shan State journalists who had just been sentenced to prison for their work and to drop all charges against them.
At least 1,339 people have been killed in the February 1 coup, according to the Association of Supporters of Political Prisoners for Human Rights Monitor. Another 11,000 have been arrested.
On Friday, the Myanmar Accountability Project (MAP) filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court Military leader Min Aung Hlaing accused of committing crimes against humanity for overseeing the deadly crackdown on protesters and activists.
The MAP has called on the Hague tribunal to open a criminal investigation into the widespread and systematic use of torture in Southeast Asia as part of a violent crackdown on the protest movement.
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