Rakhine state journalists charged by military released on bail

The two journalists work for Sittwe-based Development Media Group, which is also facing two other charges for its work

Published on Jan 29, 2021

DMG journalists Hnin Hnin Nwe and Nay Win San face charges under section 66d of the Telecommunications Law (Phadu Tun Aung, Hnin Nwe / Facebook)

Two Rakhine state-based journalists charged by the military under section 66d of the Telecommunications Law say they were released on bail on Tuesday.

Reporter Hnin Hnin Nwe, 22, and deputy editor Nay Win San, 26, were charged last Friday for an article published online by the Development Media Group (DMG) on January 10.

The charges were laid by Maj Bhone Myint Kyaw at Sittwe’s No.2 police station. Bail was set at 1.5m kyat ($1,128), Nay Win San told Myanmar Now.

The article accuses soldiers of taking 700 baskets of rice from civilians in Marlar, a village in Kyauktaw township. The two journalists say they were interrogated about their sources, while DMG was questioned about its registration.

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Police also took Hnin Nwe’s computer and phone, Nay Win San added.

“They confiscated her phone and the computer she used to write the article. We requested that these devices be opened only in court when we go to trial, but the police said we had to hand them over then and there,” he said.

DMG’s editor Moe Zaw Myint has also been taken in for questioning at the police station, according to the publication’s news department.

“We don’t know when they’re taking the case to court, or how it will go, since they’re questioning Moe Zaw Myint today,” Nay Win San said on Wednesday.

Hnin Nwe, who mainly covers armed conflict, is the first female reporter to face charges for her work in Rakhine state, where the military has been fighting the Arakan Army since early 2019.

She denied the military’s claims that her report failed to adhere to accepted journalistic standards.

“We said in the article that we were unable to contact military officials in accordance with media ethics. So it’s not okay that they’re charging us, claiming that we just made accusations,” she told Myanmar Now.

“I feel sad that I’m being charged just because I wanted to report on the sufferings of the people,” she added.

DMG reported the case to the Myanmar Press Council (MPC) on Monday to seek its intervention. The council has reportedly contacted the military on behalf of the journalists.

According to Myanmar’s News Media Law, the MPC must be informed before legal action is taken against a reporter. However, in this case, the initial charge was laid under the penal code.

The military said that Marlar had been abandoned since March 2020 and accused the journalists of fabricating the story to tarnish its image.

“This was done deliberately to hurt our reputation at a time when fighting has stopped for the sake of the public’s wellbeing,” military spokesperson Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun told reporters in Naypyitaw on Wednesday.

“It’s all fabricated and that’s why we’re filing a case,” he added.

Sittwe-based DMG mainly covers the armed conflict and human rights violations in Rakhine and currently faces two other charges.

Editor-in-chief Aung Marm Oo was charged by the police in May 2019 under article 17/2 of the Unlawful Associations Act.

DMG’s Maungdaw-based reporter Aung Kyaw Min was charged under section 66d of the Telecommunications Law by the Ministry of Construction on December 11, 2020.

Editor Nay Win San said that the multiple charges have made it difficult for the news department to function.

“The office can’t operate. A reporter and an editor are hit with charges and the editor in charge is being questioned today. So we have suspended operations for the time being, but we will resume later. It seems as if it will affect our reporting,” he said.

DMG was founded in 2012 and published a print edition twice a month until the end of 2019, when it was unable to get authorization to renew its permit.

It currently publishes online, but access to the website is banned in Myanmar.

DMG’s reporters also face difficulties when trying to contact members of the state cabinet because of the publication’s lack of a license.

“When we reach out to the state government and other departments, we get asked if our outlet is licensed and registered. So sometimes we don’t get interviews,” Nay Win San said.

Phadu Tun Aung

Phadu Tun Aung is Reporter with Myanmar Now. He is based in Sittwe, Rakhine State.

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KIA attacks police bases in Hpakant

The offensives come in the wake of deadly crackdowns against anti-coup protesters in Myitkyina

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 18, 2021

A KIA soldier watches from an outpost in Kachin state in this undated file photo (Kachinwave)

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) launched attacks against police bases in the jade mining region of Hpakant on Thursday morning, a local resident told Myanmar Now.

The attacks targeted police battalions where soldiers were stationed near Nam Maw village in the Seik Muu village tract.

“There are Myanmar police battalions around Nam Maw,” a resident said. At least three bases were attacked, he added.

A 41-year-old civilian in Seik Muu village injured his left hand during the clash, the Kachin-based Myitkyina News Journal reported.

The KIA has launched several offensives against the coup regime’s forces recently. Fighting has also been reported in Mogaung and Injangyang this month.

Some 200 people fled the Injangyang villages of Gway Htaung and Tan Baung Yan on Monday after the KIA launched an offensive against the military there.

The offenses began in the wake of deadly crackdowns against anti-coup protesters in Myitkyina. The KIA has warned the junta not to harm anti-coup protesters.

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.

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Four shot dead, five injured during junta attack on protesters in Kalay on Wednesday

The coup regime’s forces took the injured people away and locals do not know their whereabouts

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 18, 2021

Kalay residents move the body of a man who was shot dead on Wednesday (Supplied)

Four young men were killed and five people were injured in the town of Kalay in Sagaing region on Wednesday as protesters continued their fight to topple the regime despite daily massacres across the country aimed at terrorizing them into submission.

The Tahan Protest Group gathered in the town at around 10am and police and soldiers began shooting. One young man was shot dead on the spot as he tried to help people who were trapped amid gunfire, residents told Myanmar Now.

The regime’s forces also shot at and chased fleeing protesters along roads and through narrow alleys, a resident said.

“The crowd of protesters dispersed but one person was shot dead while trying to rescue those trapped in the protest site,” the resident added.

As the crowd dispersed, a man riding a motorcycle was shot outside a branch of KBZ Bank. “He also died,” the resident said.

Despite the murders, protesters gathered again in the afternoon around 4pm. Police and soldiers started shooting again and killed two people.

“They were shot dead while trying to set up barricades at the protest site. They were shot while trying to obstruct the army’s way as the army troops chased and shot the trapped protestors,” the resident said.

The two who were killed in the morning were identified as Salai Kyong Lian Kye O, who was 25, and Kyin Khant Man, who was 27 and had three children. The identities of the other two have not yet been confirmed.

Five people were also injured and then taken away. Locals said they did not know where they had been taken.

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Junta uses corruption allegations to expand legal case against Aung San Suu Kyi

An ex-convict businessman says that he gave the State Counsellor more than $550,000 in cash when ‘there was no one around.’

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 18, 2021

Maung Weik (first from left) is pictured near State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi at the opening ceremony of a government housing built by his Say Paing Company. (Maung Weik/ Facebook)

The military council announced on March 17 that it would attempt to charge State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since Myanmar’s February 1 coup, with corruption.

The junta’s move is linked to new allegations against Aung San Suu Kyi by businessman Maung Weik. The owner of the Say Paing construction and development company, Maung Weik was formerly imprisoned on drug charges and is known to have close relationships with members of the military’s inner circle.

Military-run media aired a recorded statement made by Maung Weik alleging that he had given Aung San Suu Kyi more than US$550,000 in cash-filled envelopes on the four occasions he met her between 2018 and 2020.

“There was no one around when I gave her the money,” he said in the video statement.

Under Myanmar’s earlier military regime, Maung Weik maintained ties to several generals, including former intelligence chief Khin Nyunt.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison on drug charges in 2008, but was released in 2014 while the country was led by the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.

Upon his release, Maung Weik founded Say Paing–a construction company–and ran various business ventures through his connections to military officials.

Maung Weik’s wife is also the niece of military-appointed Vice President Myint Swe, who was also the former chief minister of Yangon under the former military administration.

The coup council announced on March 11 that the now-ousted National League for Democracy’s (NLD) Yangon Region chief minister Phyo Min Thein had given Aung San Suu Kyi $600,000 and more than 11 kilograms of gold. The announcement provided no reason as to why the money and gold were allegedly given to the State Counsellor by the chief minister.

A top NLD figure told Myanmar Now that the funds in question were donations to build a pagoda.

“They’re trying to fabricate this and ruin [Aung San Suu Kyi’s] reputation, but the public already clearly knows it’s not true. There’s no need to say anything else,” the official said.

The junta has also accused the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation and an affiliated project, the La Yaung Taw Academy, of losing public funds. The foundation was founded by Aung San Suu Kyi and named after her late mother.

According to the military council, the land lease for the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation’s headquarters, located on Yangon’s University Avenue, is not commensurate with the market price for land in the area. It argues that the country had lost more than 1 billion kyat (more than $700,000) in public funds as a result.

The junta declared that from 2013 to 2021, more than $7.9 million in donations from foreign NGOs, INGOs, companies and individual international donors flowed into the foundation’s three foreign currency accounts.

Also under investigation by the junta is the La Yaung Taw Academy in Naypyitaw, which trains young people in environmental conservation and horticulture in association with the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation. The military said the rate at which the land for the project was purchased came at a discount of at least 18 billion kyat (more than $12.7 million), which was subsequently a loss to the state.

It also reportedly included some plans—such as the construction of a museum—that used funds in a way that strayed from the project’s, and the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation’s, original aims.

“The construction of a building with finance from the foundation for the chair of the foundation has deviated from the foundation’s objective,” the March 17 announcement in the military-run newspaper said.

Prior to the corruption allegations, the military council had hit Aung San Suu Kyi with four charges at the Zabuthiri Township court in Naypyitaw.

She has been accused of violating Section 505(b) of the Penal Code for incitement, which carries a sentence of two years in prison; Article 67 of the communications law for possession of unauthorized items; an import-export charge for owning walkie-talkie devices; and a charge under the Natural Disaster Management Law for not following Covid-19 measures during the 2020 election campaign period.

The military council has not allowed Aung San Suu Kyi to meet with her legal team.

“I’ll most likely see her via video conferencing on March 24 for the next hearing,” lawyer Min Min Soe told Myanmar Now.

The military council has only allowed lawyers Yu Ya Chit and Min Min Soe to take on Aung San Suu Kyi’s case, ignoring the requests of more established legal experts, including Khin Maung Zaw and Kyi Win, to be granted power of attorney.