Journalists in Myanmar: Imprisoned and Tortured

The junta in Myanmar is cracking down on journalists. More than 100 have been imprisoned since the coup, and one recently died in military custody. The journalists still want to keep fighting.

Since the military coup in February, journalists critical of the government in Myanmar have been facing increasing threats of imprisonment and torture. The military regime has since arrested more than 100 journalists and closed key news agencies, television stations and newspapers.

“It’s horrible what they do to journalists. It was life-threatening for my father and also for us family members. We also work in this area, so we had to flee,” says a young woman who also works as a journalist. While she was able to get to safety and leave Myanmar, her father – a well-known reporter – is in jail.

The journalist and the family are downright happy that the father is sitting there and no longer in the military interrogation center. Because that’s where people die. This is shown by the case of the journalist Soe Naing. “A few days ago a photojournalist was tortured and killed in military custody. He was a friend of my brother-in-law,” said the journalist. The man had documented the silent strike with which the whole country protested against the dictatorship.

Citizen journalists report on the situation in the country

The landscape of journalism has changed a lot, and the military is trying to arrest anyone who has a name. Well-known reporters are on an arrest warrant list, says the woman. These could hardly report any more.

And that’s why everyone wants to ensure that those in power overthrow. “At the moment, those who record videos are citizen journalists. Anyone who has a phone picks up and sends it to the news portals,” says the journalist.

The military threaten journalists’ families

The reporter Zaw Zaw also receives a lot of tips, videos and reports from citizen journalists. He works for the news portal Mizzima – now he can do it again, because he is sitting in Thailand on the border with Myanmar and no longer in prison. The junta imprisoned him there from April to October. Then he left Myanmar and crossed the border.

“I’m a journalist, I have to report, but I couldn’t do that after my release because I was watched,” said Zaw Zaw. “I could have been arrested again at any time. I did not want to leave my family behind because the military would have threatened that they would harm them if I continued to report. So my family and I crossed the border.” A colleague of his, who reported from the same town in southern Myanmar as he was, was also arrested and tortured for days.

Human rights organization: 184 dead from torture

Of the 11,000 people the junta has jailed since the coup, at least 184 have been tortured to death. That says the organization for political prisoners AAPP. Zaw Zaw knows that he was still lucky. But he also knows that he has to keep reporting so that his compatriots and the international community know what is happening in Myanmar.

Before the coup, most people in the country would have been more interested in silly things on social media – that’s different now. “The military has violated so many human rights and committed so much injustice that most citizens can no longer bear it. They want to tell the truth, so contact us and tell us what is happening to them. We then try to verify – sometimes that doesn’t work, then we don’t report it. But we all work together to tell the truth. “

Only if everyone knows and the world is putting pressure on Myanmar, says Zaw Zaw, will they eventually be able to live in peace and freedom again.