Burmese journalist sentenced to 10 years in jail by military junta court

A Burmese journalist was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison with hard labor for violating Myanmar’s anti-terror law, on top of a three-year sentence she received in December 2022 for defamation, a lawyer working on her case said.

Camera Operator Hmu Yadanar – Best of Myanmar Press Photo Agency, was sentenced in the Insein prison on the outskirts of Yangon by the ruling junta Thingangyun District Court, said the lawyer who requested anonymity for security reasons.

She was sentenced to three years in prison under Section 505(a) of the country’s Penal Code after serving one year in prison. The junta has charged journalists under the broad and vague anti-state provision that penalizes “incitement” and “false news”, and carries sentences of two or three years in prison.

Hmu Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun’s lawyer said his client would not appeal the verdict.

“She said she didn’t want to appeal,” he told Radio Free Asia. “She has no more accusations to face.”

The military regime has clamped down on press freedom in Myanmar since seizing power from the democratically elected government in a coup in February 2021. Junta soldiers continue to attack, harass, jail and kill journalists. Human rights groups have called on the junta to unconditionally release all journalists targeted in the post-coup crackdown.

Hmu Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun’s injuries were the result of military troops driving a vehicle into a crowd of civilians who were peacefully protesting against the regime. in Kyimyindaing township of Yangon in December 5, 2021. They arrested the camera operator along with her colleague, photographer Kaung Sett Lin, who were covering the protest, as well as nine young activists.

The military vehicle rammed the two journalists from behind at high speed, causing serious injuries to their heads, legs and other parts of their bodies, The Irrawaddy online newspaper reported.

Tun, whose legs were broken, still he has difficulty walking and cannot move like a normal person, his lawyer said.

Since the coup, the military junta has arrested 156 journalists. More than 100 of them have been released, while more than 50 remain in prison, and one, photojournalist Soe Naing, was killed during interrogation.

Translated by Myo Min Aung for FRG Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.