A Myanmar journalist gets a 20-year sentence for reporting on cyclone's aftermath, news site says

Source: Associated Press

A Myanmar journalist gets a 20-year sentence for reporting on cyclone’s aftermath, news site says

BY GRANT PECK
Updated 8:46 PM EDT, September 6, 2023

BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Myanmar sentenced a photojournalist for an underground news agency to 20 years in prison with hard labor for his coverage of a deadly May cyclone’s aftermath, the media organization said Wednesday.

The sentence given Sai Zaw Thaike, a photographer for the independent online news service Myanmar Now, appeared to be the most severe for any journalist detained since the military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said in April that Myanmar is the world’s second- biggest jailer of journalists, behind only China. The country ranks near the bottom of the group’s 2023 World Press Freedom Index, placing 176th out of 180 countries.

Myanmar Now, which operates underground, reported that a military tribunal tried, convicted and sentenced Sai Zaw Thaike, 40, during the first court hearing since he was detained in the western state of Rakhine.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-press-freedom-cyclone-photojournalist-203230805b85e6fcef056a178bed23e2