RSF calls on Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha (on the left) to prevent the deportation of DVB journalists to Myanmar where the military are conducting a bloody crackdown against which Thai and Burmese people (on the right) protested on 4th April, in Chiang Mai, Thailand (photos : AFP). Organisation
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is very concerned about the fate of three journalists and two press freedom activists who fled from Myanmar to neighbouring Thailand and who are now facing possible deportation back Myanmar, where their lives would be in danger.
RSF calls on Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to prevent their deportation and has asked three UN special rapporteurs – on freedom of opinion and expression, on Myanmar and on torture – and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to intercede with the Thai authorities.
Who is Min Nyo? Myanmar Journalist First Given Prison Sentence for Reporting Under Junta Rule
On 5/12/21 at 3:25 PM EDT
Min Nyo, 51, on Wednesday became the first journalist to be sentenced to prison in Myanmar by a military court under junta rule after the army took control in February when Aung San Suu Kyi s elected government was forced out. He was sentence to three years, the
Associated Press reported.
Min Nyo worked for Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), an online and broadcasting media group that has been banned since March 8 by Myanmar s junta. DVB said Min Nyo was beaten and arrested by police after reporting on an anti-junta protest March 3. He was convicted under a revised Penal Code provision that has been criticized for punishing free speech legally.
IN-DEPTH / IN-DEPTH
Sugarcoated free press
Photo: VCG
The notorious self-acclaimed journalist organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its annual press freedom index in April. Not surprisingly, this neither authoritative nor professional group, having frequently showed the public its anti-China stance, ranked China fourth from the bottom. On May 3, the 30th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day, Cedric Alviani, head of RSF s East Asia Bureau, reportedly openly smeared China as the worst enemy of freedom of the press and expression.
It is obvious that the ranking of press freedom done by this group, which is a very subjective and conjectural one, is entirely based on the political preferences of the founder, a far-right person, said Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University.
BBC News
Published
image captionMany journalists who have been covering protests in Myanmar have been arrested
Three journalists and two activists who fled from Myanmar are set to go on trial in Thailand on charges of illegally entering the country.
If found guilty they are likely to be deported back to Myanmar, where they say their lives would be in danger.
The trial was to begin on Tuesday in Chiang Mai but was postponed for another six days.
Since the military coup on 1 February, dozens of journalists have been arrested and charged in Myanmar.
More than 700 people have been killed by security forces and thousands have been detained.