PEC demands fair trial to detained Burmese journalists
Geneva, Switzerland: Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), the global media
safety and rights body, has expressed its concern over the relentless
arrest and imprisonment of working journalists in Myanmar (also known
as Burma and Brahmadesh) since last year’s military coup and urged the
authorities for ensuring fair trials to all the detained journalists.
Media reports from Yangon, the former capital of the southeast Asian
nation, reveal that a freelance news presenter for BBC Burmese was
imprisoned on 15 September for three years with hard labour by a
military court in Insein prison. Htet Htet Khine was arrested on 15
August last year and she remains behind bars for over a year in the
notorious jail of
Yangon.
The popular journalist presented a Burmese language program named
‘Khan Sar Kyi’ for the British broadcaster where she narrated stories
of many Burmese political and social leaders in the backdrop of
the impending civil war in the poverty-stricken country. She was accused
of using provocative words against the military junta while working
for many unlawful organizations.
“Since the coup on 1 February 2021, the military dictators have forced
many media outlets to shut down their offices inside Myanmar. Nearly.
145 journalists have been arrested till now and one-third of them are
Still under detention. We demand an unconditional release of all
journalists by the military authority,” said Blaise Lempen, president
of PEC (www.pressemblem.ch).
As Myanmar is facing a civil war-like situation where the soldiers
were attacking the pro-democracy activists belonging to different
organizations and a few resistant groups have taken arms in hands to
target the military personnel along with their relatives and
well-wishers, the journalists have been facing a difficult situation.
PEC’s southeast Asia representative Nava Thakuria informs that the
journalists can be arrested for any piece that the generals do not
like.
