Journalists Aung San Oo (left) and Myo Myo Myo Oo, arrested by the Myanmar Army**.
On December 13, two of their journalists, Aung San Oo and Myo Myint Oo, were arrested by the Burmese army, according to the editor-in-chief of the news organization David Watch. For fear of retaliation from the military, the editor-in-chief requested anonymity.
Last year, two Dawei Watch journalists and a web designer were arrested and briefly detained before being acquitted.
Last month, the military amended the broadcasting law to place the Television and Radio Commission under the direct control of the ruling Military Commission. The law previously allowed the commission to operate freely and without influence from any ** organization.
Most of Myanmar's **, including David Watch, are now operating in semi-secret conditions. In order to avoid **, the staff are posting information online. They rarely see each other, and many of the staff members actually operate in exile.
The editor-in-chief told reporters that Aung San Oo and Mya Myan Oo were at their home in the coastal town of Mergui on Monday night. This place is located about 560 km south of Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar.
The editor-in-chief said the two journalists were on their way home after three days of hiding, and the security forces soldiers who arrested the reporters told their families that they were writing for the report. The computers and mobile phones of the journalists and their families have been confiscated by soldiers of the security forces, and the journalists are currently being held in interrogation camps, the editor-in-chief said.
The editor-in-chief told reporters, "Journalists write and produce news stories in accordance with journalistic ethics. Writing a report is not a crime. They should not be arrested or interrogated as criminals. So I would like to say: the arrested journalists should be released as soon as possible. ”
The editor-in-chief of David's Watch said that since February 2021, when the army staged a coup d'état to seize power from Aung San Suu Kyi's elected hands, the army began to crack down on independence, and as far as he knows, there are now five journalists and a columnist.
According to local monitoring groups, they have arrested more than 25,000 people, including journalists, since the military ** took power.
In Reporters Without Borders' latest World Press Freedom Index, Myanmar ranks 173rd out of 180 countries.
According to the latest data from the watchdog, 67 journalists and one **worker are currently detained in Myanmar.
In September, a Burmese journalist was charged with multiple charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison, including violating the Natural Disaster Law and Telecommunications Law while reporting on the aftermath of the deadly typhoon.
Several foreign journalists have been arrested, including American journalist Danny Finster, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2021 and pardoned and released a few days later.
Most of the journalists detained were charged with sedition on suspicion of causing fear, spreading false news, or inciting employees.
Study analysts said at least four ** workers were killed in custody and others were tortured in detention.