military junta
Myanmar: Filmmaker Daewe sentenced to life imprisonment
Award-winning documentary filmmaker Shin Daewe has been sentenced to life in prison in Myanmar. photo
© From the private collection of the family/dpa
The junta in Myanmar is once again silencing an opponent. The well-known filmmaker Shin Daewe is to be imprisoned for life. There is also talk of torture.
Award-winning documentary filmmaker Shin Daewe is in Myanmar sentenced to life imprisonment. A court controlled by the military junta found the 50-year-old guilty of violating the country’s anti-terrorism law, a family member and local media reported unanimously. According to The Irrawaddy newspaper, she was accused of “financing and aiding terrorism.” She was arrested in Yangon (formerly Rangoon) in October when she went to pick up a drone for filming.
“She is a prominent filmmaker and respected artist who has only made films,” her younger brother Myint Thu told dpa. “We are deeply saddened by this news.” Daewe was reportedly interrogated and tortured for days after her arrest. Eyewitnesses said they saw her with bruises and cuts, it said. She hasn’t seen her family since her arrest.
Honored at international film festivals
Shin Daewe won several awards for her 2013 documentary “Now I Am 13.” It tells the story of a teenager from central Myanmar who is denied access to education due to her family’s poverty. The film won awards at both the Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival and the 2014 Wathann Film Festival in Myanmar.
Her earlier works “Rahula”, “Take Me Home” and “Brighter Future” also received a lot of attention. In total, Daewe has made more than 15 short documentaries that have been shown at international film festivals. In the early 1990s, she was briefly imprisoned twice for taking part in pro-democracy demonstrations.
Since its coup in February 2021, the junta has taken brutal action against all opponents and critics. Arbitrary arrests and long prison sentences occur again and again. The deposed former head of government Aung San Suu Kyi is also in prison.