Detained Journalists Reapply for Bail in Unlawful Association Trial

par | Août 12, 2017 | Media

The lawyers of three detained journalists submitted a bail request for the second time, after the Hsipaw Township Court rejected the initial appeal last week.
At Friday’s court hearing, lawyers appealed for bail for six men including three journalists from The Irrawaddy and DVB who were detained while reporting in the area by the military and later charged under Article 17(1) of the colonial-era Unlawful Associations Act.
The court heard a witness [a local resident] from the prosecutor’s side on Friday but a military official who was scheduled to appear at the court for testimony did not show, with the excuse given that he was on military duty.
The defendant’s lawyers stated at the court that they requested bail again as the accusations against the journalists were not strong enough to build a case or charge them under the Unlawful Associations Act.
After the court hearing, the police sent the journalists directly back to Hsipaw Prison, where they have been detained for 46 days, despite a request made to leave them in police custody behind the court for a half hour to have lunch and meet with family members.

…. / …..

The three journalists—Irrawaddy senior reporter Lawi Weng (U Thein Zaw) and Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reporters U Aye Naing and Ko Pyae Phone Aung—were arrested on June 26 while covering a drug-burning ceremony in Ta’ang National Liberation Army-controlled area.
“The case has been wrong from the start. We were denied bail… this is an intentional threat against us and the next generation to stop reporting on and contacting ethnic armed groups. But nothing will frighten our colleagues,” U Aye Naing of the DVB told reporters outside of the court before being sent back to prison.
Supporters and family members of the journalists shouted at the court to stop oppressing the media.
The court will rule on the bail appeal on August 18.

By The Irrawaddy 11 August 2017 – HSIPAW, Shan State

Sur le même sujet.

 

OIC Tells Myanmar to Protect Rights of Rohingya Minority

OIC Tells Myanmar to Protect Rights of Rohingya Minority

par | Août 3, 2017 | Rohingyas

A Rohingya refugee girl reacts to the camera while carry a child at the Kutupalang Makeshift Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh on July 8, 2017. / Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters

A Rohingya refugee girl reacts to the camera while carry a child at the Kutupalang Makeshift Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh on July 8, 2017. / Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Myanmar must protect the rights of its Rohingya Muslim minority, the chief of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said on Thursday, urging the southeast Asian nation to join hands with Muslim-majority neighbors in tackling a refugee crisis.
A group known as Harakah al-Yaqin attacked Myanmar border guard posts on Oct. 9, killing nine policemen and igniting the biggest crisis yet to face Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s fledgling administration.
About 75,000 people fled to Bangladesh during the ensuing military crackdown, which was beset by allegations of rape, torture and extrajudicial killings by security forces.
Suu Kyi’s government has denied most of the allegations and is refusing access to a United Nations panel of experts, saying its mission will aggravate the situation on the ground in the western state of Rakhine.
“Myanmar should sit with Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia to find a roadmap for the solution of the crisis,” said Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen of the OIC, which represents 57 states and acts as the collective voice of the Muslim world.
“We call on the Myanmar government to ensure human rights for the Rohingyas,” Othaimeen told reporters during a four-day visit to the Bangladeshi capital.
“Myanmar can’t deny the human rights of Rohingyas. We also call on the Myanmar government to ensure citizenship for the Rohingyas.”
Othaimeen is also expected to visit Rakhine Muslims in the Kutupalong camp and surrounding areas in the southern resort town of Cox’s Bazar on Friday, Bangladesh foreign ministry officials said.
Thousands of Rohingya live in Bangladesh without being officially recognized as refugees, but police rarely file immigration charges against them. Still, their presence is a source of tension between the two countries.
Many in Myanmar see the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, although about 1.1 million of them live in Rakhine state and say their roots go back generations.

By Reuters 3 August 2017

OIC Tells Myanmar to Protect Rights of Rohingya Minority

In Sketches: Myanmar’s Challenging Media Landscape

par | Juil 15, 2017 | Media

Justice With Strings Attached

In October 2014, freelance reporter Aung Kyaw Naing, also known as Par Gyi, was killed while in military custody. The Myanmar Army said the journalist was shot dead when he attempted to seize a soldier’s gun and escape detention. Despite his wife’s attempt to file charges against the military for the death and alleged torture of her husband, the case was dropped by the police and courts.

Press Freedom in Burma

Myanmar ended literary censorship in 2012. Four years on, in 2016 press freedom in the country is depicted as still in its infancy.

Freedom on the Brink

The Irrawaddy’s cartoonist responds to the terrorist attack on French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 that killed 17 people.

Enjoy Freedom of the Press

This 2014 cartoon demonstrates the control and lack of support for independent media in Myanmar.

No Freedom From 66(d)

There have nearly 70 cases filed under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law—which is used to prosecute “defamation” online—during the National League for Democracy’s government administration.

Press Freedom?

The year 2014 saw some backslidings in press freedom in Myanmar with authorities placing restrictions on some publications on not to publish “inappropriate news about the government.” Others were threatened that they would be “held responsible for inciting social unrest” with their coverage of violence in Rakhine State. Four journalists and the CEO of Unity Weekly newspaper were detained by the police force’s Special Branch after the newspaper reported the existence of an alleged chemical weapons factory in Pauk, Magwe Division. All are facing prison terms of up to 14 years for “violating state secret laws.”

Ministry of Information Keeps the Media in its Tentacles

Despite the booming private media outlets in the country, Myanmar’s Ministry of Information takes a lion’s share of control of everything related to the media industry.

Burma’s Press Reforms at the Bursting Point

A 2014 cartoon demonstrates the precariousness of press freedom under the quasi-civilian government led by former President U Thein Sein.

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Backs to the Crisis

Under Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government, the Myanmar Army arrested three journalists, including one from The Irrawaddy, on June 26, accusing them of holding connections with an outlawed ethnic armed group. At the time of publication, they remain in prison.

OIC Tells Myanmar to Protect Rights of Rohingya Minority

Ma Ba Tha Appeals

par | Juil 14, 2017 | Religious fundamentalism

Mandalay Ma Ba Tha Appeals Ban on Name

MANDALAY — Nationalists of a sub-chapter of the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion are urging the State Buddhist Sangha authority to reconsider a ban on their group’s name—otherwise known by its Myanmar acronym Ma Ba Tha.

The spokesperson of Ma Ba Tha’s Mandalay chapter told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that it is preparing an appeal to the State Buddhist authority—known by its Myanmar acronym Ma Ha Na—which banned the group’s name in May and ordered all signboards to be removed by July 15.

“We will send this appeal to the Ma Ha Na office in Yangon tomorrow requesting the senior abbots to reconsider the ban and the removal of the signboards,” said U Yatha, the spokesperson.

The sub-chapter announced on Monday that it would continue to use the name and would not remove the signboards in defiance of the Ma Ha Na orders.

“Since our association [Ma Ba Tha] is not illegal and did nothing that is outlawed, we request the senior Sayadaw to let us continue with [the name]. If the Sayadaw decide to go on with their decision to abolish Ma Ba Tha, we will have to listen and follow them,” said U Yatha.

The spokesperson said they would request a delay of a month or two on the order so that they could still use the signboards during the reconsideration period.

Commenting on reports that the group’s members in Mandalay were planning to resist local authorities and senior monks if they attempted to remove the signboards, U Yatha added, “These are just rumors. We have no plan to act against the decision of the senior monks. If the senior abbots of Ma Ha Na decide we are outlawed, and if they want to arrest us, we have no choice but to respect and follow their decision,” said U Yatha.

After a two-day meeting with members from across the country in late May, the association released an announcement that it would “no longer use [the name] Ma Ba Tha, but would go by the Buddha Dhamma Charity Foundation,” rebranding itself as a charity group.

Zarni Mann    –   By Zarni Mann 13 July 2017

OIC Tells Myanmar to Protect Rights of Rohingya Minority

The Military’s Offensive Against the Media

par | Juil 1, 2017 | Media

The Military’s Offensive Against the Media.

We journalists are under attack. Press freedom is in jeopardy in Myanmar.The last act of aggression happened on Monday when the military arrested The Irrawaddy’s senior reporter Lawi Weng and two Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reporters, Aye Nai and Pyae Bone Naing, also known as Pyae Phone Aung.Now the military has charged them as having violated Article 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act as they ventured into territory controlled by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, as part of a reporting trip.The arrest and charges demonstrate that either Myanmar’s military leaders don’t understand the nature and purpose of the media, or that this was a deliberate act intended to frighten journalists away from covering sensitive issues that could lead to criticism of the armed forces.If the military arrested Lawi Weng and two DVB reporters due to what they describe as a connection to ethnic armed rebels, they would have to arrest hundreds of journalists who work for independent media across the country.I am sure that nearly all Myanmar journalists have made contact at least once with members of “unlawful” ethnic armed groups, as all publications across the country have covered the peace process—one of the most important issues facing the nation.Heads of key institutions, including the army and those within the current government, must understand that journalists need to talk to people from all sides of a conflict in order to verify facts, to be able to provide accurate information, and to interpret complex situations and perspectives. If we were to not do this, we would be failing to provide comprehensive information to the public.Since 2011, when ex-President Thein Sein took office and his administration started negotiations with ethnic armed organizations, we journalists also started covering issues concerning conflict more openly. We approached it with a sense of responsibility to help end seven decades of civil war.

Journalists from many publications in the country have traveled to conflict zones, including areas controlled by ethnic armed groups, to speak with rebel leaders, their soldiers, ethnic civil society groups, residents, and refugees.We have repeatedly interviewed and had conversations with leaders and members of such groups whenever the previous and incumbent governments held meetings or conferences relating to peace and conflict in Naypyidaw, Yangon and elsewhere.

Over the past years, ethnic armed group leaders have flown to the capital or to Yangon from their headquarters to attend talks organized by both ex-President U Thein Sein’s administration and the current Daw Aung San Suu Kyi-led administration. The most significant event was the Union Peace Conference, also known as the 21st Century Panglong, held by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.A number of rebel leaders attended the conference and made speeches alongside the State Counselor and the commander-in-chief of the military.The most recent media arrests by the military are damaging press freedom, a principle that is considered a pillar of the democracy that we are trying to create. In fact, the arrests are limiting greater freedoms that have been realized since the lifting of draconian censorship laws by military-backed ex-President U Thein Sein in 2012.These days, I tend to say to international guests and journalists that Myanmar is not an enemy of the press, as it was under the military regimes of past decades. But the situation seems to be headed backward.While the military appears to be solely responsible for the arrest of Lawi Weng and the DVB reporters, the government holds responsibility, too.We understand that the powerful Myanmar Army did not need approval or a green light from the State Counselor or the President or the National League for Democracy government in order to arrest those journalists. But Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Htin Kyaw are the two highest leaders in the country. I believe that they both are responsible for ensuring the protection of citizens’ basic and professional rights, particularly when these rights are abused or mishandled by a powerful institution like the military.

Lawi Weng has been working for The Irrawaddy since 2007. He was a journalist doing his job, as were Aye Nai and Pyae Bone Naing. Since their arrest on Monday, I have sent three letters to the State Counselor, the President and the Minister of Information concerning Lawi’s detention. I have requested that they assist us in finding a way to release him, as he and the other reporters were simply doing their duties as journalists, gathering information in a sensitive area.To be honest, I do not know if either the President or the State Counselor can help out in this matter. But at the very least, I am sure that they can raise the issue with Myanmar’s top military leaders.Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Htin Kyaw, the military can be held accountable by your government: they have to answer your questions.The arrest of these journalists is damaging the norms of democracy you’ve promised to achieve under your government. The charges they are facing are an attack on press freedom, which is essential to rebuilding and restoring peace to Myanmar.As state leaders, you are responsible for securing our professional rights to do our job for our country. Please do not let us down.

By Kyaw Zwa Moe – 1 July 2017 – Cartoon / Kyaw Thuyein Lwin