Detained Myanmar reporters denounce military over free speech

Three Myanmar journalists, who are facing jail for their reporting, have accused the military of trying to silence the media across the country.

Irrawaddy reporter Lawi Weng told reporters outside the courthouse in the northeastern town of Hsipaw on Tuesday that the military was trying to "threaten" journalists into silence.

"I am now in handcuffs because I am a journalist. Is this democracy?" Weng said while holding up his chained wrists, adding, "We were detained as an attempt to compromise our beliefs and scare us. But we are not afraid."

Aye Naing, a senior reporter for the Democratic Voice of Burma, said, "This is a shame for Myanmar, which is shouting to the world that we are on the path to democracy."

Also appearing in court was Pyae Phone Aung from the Democratic Voice of Burma.

The trio were remanded in custody for another week at an impromptu hearing.

They were among seven men detained three weeks ago as they left a drugs-burning ceremony organized by the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, one of several rebel groups fighting the state.

The reporters had covered the burning of drugs by the rebel group to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse. 

Five of them have been charged under section one of the draconian Unlawful Associations Act. The reporters were accused of breaching the colonial-era act.

Myanmar's military earlier said the reporters had communicated with a group "currently opposing the country's rule of law using arms."

The legislation was often used against journalists and activists by the military.

In recent weeks, reporters and editors have also been detained over articles mocking the military. 

Most of the cases against journalists are for suspected violations of a broadly worded telecommunications law decried by rights monitors as a violation of free speech.

Reporters protesting the threat to press freedom say military intelligence agents have taken their pictures.

They say the developments are a reminder of days of harsh military rule when no opposition was tolerated.

Journalists and rights groups say that the gains made in press freedom since the end of decades of strict military rule risk being reversed. 

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has not herself commented on cases of reporters running afoul of the law. 

In early July, the European Union urged Myanmar to protect journalists against "intimidation, arrest or prosecution." 

Read more:

• EU urges Myanmar to protect free speech amid crackdown on journalists

The EU said that the arrest and prosecution of journalists has reached "a worrying number" in recent months.

Myanmar has long faced international criticism for its treatment of the Rohingya Muslims, who are denied citizenship and live in conditions rights groups have compared to those of the Blacks under the former apartheid regime in South Africa.

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