Myanmar junta files criminal charges against models for distributing sexually revealing content

Junta-controlled media announced on Friday night that the military council had brought charges against two well-known models for acts deemed to cause “harm to Myanmar culture.”

Nang Mwe San and Thinzar Wint Kyaw—both 34—are accused of publishing sexually revealing content on adult entertainment sites for profit, and have been charged under Section 33a of the 2004 Electronic Transactions Law, according to the statement.

The statute in question prohibits actions which are “detrimental to the security of the State or prevalence of law and order or community peace and tranquillity or national solidarity or national economy or national culture.”

If convicted, the women face a prison sentence of seven to 15 years.  

The junta’s announcement did not disclose when Thinzar Wint Kyaw and Nang Mwe San were arrested. It said that the investigation was ongoing, and that military authorities would take further legal action against other individuals whose activities allegedly threatened “Myanmar women’s dignity.”

In early July, Thinzar Wint Kyaw, who is also an actress, visited the headquarters of the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP) in Wanhai, Shan State, and attended the wedding of the daughter of the ethnic armed organisation’s spokesperson Sai Hsu. Days after photos of her attendance at the wedding in SSPP uniform went viral, she was also briefly detained by the regime.

At the time of reporting, officials from the Shan armed group were in the military capital of Naypyitaw for a “peace talk” with junta representatives.

Nang Mwe San is a former medical doctor and one of Myanmar’s most famous models. The junta invalidated her passport in March, a move that barred her from leaving the country.

In 2019, the national medical council revoked her medical license and ordered her to stop posting sexually revealing content online after she shared photos of herself in a bikini and lingerie. 

She joined the subscription service OnlyFans as a content creator in 2020, a move which reportedly earned her thousands of dollars monthly.