Nearly 150 journalists detained, three killed since Myanmar coup: UNESCO 

By DMG 02 Feb 2022

DMG Newsroom
2 February 2022, Sittwe 

At least 146 journalists were arrested — 120 male and 26 female — and three were killed in the year since the military coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, according to a press release from UNESCO Myanmar on Tuesday. 

Of the 52 journalists who remain detained, 40 are men and 12 are women, UNESCO Myanmar added. Thirty-six of the journalists have been formally charged, and dozens of journalists were described as either evading charges in-country or having fled Myanmar.  

The three fatalities were all male journalists, according to UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency.  

Veteran journalist U Myint Kyaw said deteriorating freedom of the press and the broader Myanmar media environment were a concern for local journalists. 

“Some journalists are currently going into hiding and there are a few journalists hiding abroad. These are concerns for freedom of the press in Myanmar. If this situation continues, things will only get worse,” he told DMG. 

The junta revoked the publishing licences of 10 media outlets and charged five media groups with various counts, UNESCO Myanmar said. 

U Sein Win, managing editor of Mizzima News, whose organisation was among those that have had their licences revoked by the military regime, said Myanmar’s media industry has been devastated since the coup. 

“Following the military coup, journalists have been killed at interrogation centres. … The military council has become increasingly hostile to the local media,” he added. 

Ko Wunna Khwar Nyo, editor-in-chief of Arakan State-based Western News, who recently had a lawsuit filed against him by the military regime, said he feared there was no sign of better days for media professionals with the junta extending its declaration of a State of Emergency in Myanmar for another six months earlier this week. 

“The military council will wipe out everything that could be a hindrance to their narrative in order to stay in power. So, there may be more arrests of journalists during the [next] six months of State of Emergency,” he said. 

The press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has ranked Myanmar 140th out of 180 countries assessed in its latest World Press Freedom Index. 

RSF notes that Myanmar climbed 20 places in its rankings from 2013 to 2017. It adds, however: “The coup d’état of 1 February 2021 brought that fragile progress to an abrupt end and set Myanmar’s journalists back ten years.”