Narinjara News, September 18,2022
Geneva, Switzerland: Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), the globalmedia safety and rights body,has expressed its concern over the relentless arrest and imprisonment of working journalists in Myanmar (alsoknown as Burma)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 newspresenter for BBC Burmese was imprisonedon 15 September  for three years with hard labour by a military court in Insein prison. HtetHtet 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 Britishbroadcaster where she narrated stories ofmany Burmese political and social leaders in the backdrop of impending civil war in the povertystricken country. She was accused ofusing provocative words against the military junta while working for many unlawful organisations.

“Since the coup on 1 February 2021, the military dictators have forced many media outlets to shut down theiroffices inside Myanmar. Nearly 145journalists have been arrested till now and one third of them are still under detention. We demand anunconditional 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-democracyactivists belonging to different organisationsand a few resistant groups have taken arms in hands to target the military personnel along with their relatives and well-wishers, the journalists have beenfacing a difficult situation.

PEC’s southeast Asia representativeNava Thakuria informs that the journalists  canbe arrested for any piece that the  generals do not like.