In Myanmar, a journalist was imprisoned for 20 years for covering the cyclone: what happened
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In Myanmar, a photojournalist from an independent publication was sentenced to 20 years in prison with forced labor for covering the cyclone. A journalist named Sai Zo Thaike was covering the aftermath of the deadly storm, which killed at least 148 people, according to the journalist’s employer, Myanmar Now, as well as The Guardian. However, the “court” of Myanmar, where a military coup took place in 2021, accused the media man of “treason and slander.” The sentence handed down to Sai Zo Thaike was the harshest sentence for media representatives since the military overthrew the democratic government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. Sai Zo Thaike was arrested on 23 May 2023 while covering the aftermath of Cyclone Mokka in Sittwe, the capital of western Rakhine state. The fact is that many representatives of the Rohingya minority live there, who are persecuted by the regime (the UN sees in the actions of the military leading Myanmar, signs of the Rohingya genocide). The Muslim minority is forced to live in camps for forced migrants. Photo: Kon Blai Myanmar Now, an underground publication, reported that a military tribunal “tried” Sai Zo Thaike on September 6. Initially, the journalist was indicted on several charges under the article, which falls under the general title of “treason”, but also includes “incitement to sedition”. Fotokor was accused of “inciting fear”, “spreading false news” and “agitation against a public official or military officer”, which in Myanmar is punishable by up to 3 years in prison. He was also charged with defamation on the Internet, which is punishable by 3 years in prison, and with violating the law on combating natural disasters. According to the country’s new laws, “spreading false information about a natural disaster with the purpose of panic in society” can lead to a prison term of up to 1 year. No court hearings or other proceedings were held on the grounds of Insein Prison prior to the conviction. Colleagues of the journalist say that he had no legal representative during the entire process. Since his arrest in late May, he has not been allowed to see his family, and prison authorities have restricted the delivery of mail and parcels to his address, as they have for other prisoners across the country. According to the editor-in-chief of Myanmar Now, Thaike’s sentence shows that press freedom was completely abolished during the junta’s rule. “All of Sai Zo Thaike’s colleagues at Myanmar Now and myself are deeply saddened by the news of the long prison sentence handed down to him. His sentence is further evidence that press freedom has been completely abolished under the military junta and shows the high cost, which independent journalists in Myanmar should pay for their professional activities,” says Swe Win, head of the publication. Rights defenders in the field of media, in particular the Committee for the Protection of Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists, also reacted to the imprisonment of the photojournalist. “The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the journalist’s sentence and calls on international governments, human rights organizations and media groups to step up efforts to end the military junta’s relentless attack on press freedom,” the organization wrote. It will be recalled that Myanmar ranks third in the world in terms of the number of imprisoned journalists. According to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, at least 42 journalists were behind bars as of December 1, 2022 alone. And the Detained Journalist Group estimated that more than 150 journalists in Myanmar have been arrested and four media workers have died since the coup. Read also: In North Korea, a baby and his parents were sent to a concentration camp for life because of a found Bible
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